Skills Training

Mrs PEARCE (King) (15:03): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier update the house on how the Malinauskas government is delivering skills training for the next generation of workers?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (15:03): I thank the member for King for her question. The member for King, as a proud representative of her community with a particular interest in young people in the community, and as a mother herself, I know cares a lot about the future opportunities of young people in our state. I have to say, today was a really nice moment when I had the chance with the Minister for Defence and Space Industries and the Minister for Education to go down to Osborne to bear witness to an example of how a policy that has enjoyed bipartisan support with respect to the naval shipbuilding program is really coming to life. Seeing that first frigate really starting to take shape, the first of the Hunter Class frigates, down at Osborne—I mean, this is going to be a big ship; it's a big ship, to anyone who gets a chance to see it.

But even more exciting than that was that we got to see today, in effect, graduates of the Findon Technical College start work at BAE Systems. These are young South Australian men and women, who, as a result of the policy that this government has instituted to invest over $200 million rebuilding technical colleges and high schools, are graduating, with their SACE certificate in one pocket and a trade qualification in another, starting work for a major, credible global company, where they will enjoy a well paid, secure not just job but career for the rest of their lives. It is a magnificent trifecta of policy coming together, the private sector and the government working together with a young person full of talent and hope about what their standard of living will look like in their home city and state now manifesting itself to a real-life opportunity.

Today, we were able to announce, on the back of the success that BAE themselves have seen through the Findon Technical College program, that they will be partnering with us at the Modbury Heights Technical College, which opens up just adjacent to where the member for King lives. The Modbury Heights Technical College will also partner with BAE to have the advanced manufacturing course provided for that institution. So, young men and women in the north-eastern suburbs will be able to say, 'You know what? I'm going to go work at Osborne too. I'm going to work in the defence industry as well, and I'm going to set myself up with a well paid, secure job for me and my family forevermore,' in their home city and state. It is magnificent to see, Mr Speaker.

This government is resolute in its belief that you don't have to go to university to get a good job. You absolutely can go to university and get a magnificent job, and we need more engineers, more young people doing engineering in every form in our universities to work on the naval shipbuilding program as well, but you do not have to go to uni to get a good job and earn a high income. If you are more inclined to work with your hands in a skilled and safe environment, then of course there is much opportunity in South Australia for you at the moment in a whole range of industries, and the naval shipbuilding is yet one example of that.

These technical colleges are a policy that we took to the election and are now very proud to be instituting in practice. The first one in Findon is up and running. The next one at Modbury opens up at the beginning of next year's school year. Findon, I should mention, is full to the brim with students, it's oversubscribed. We have much hope that the same will be true at Modbury. Then, of course, we have Mount Gambier, Port Augusta and Tonsley on the way as well, where we will have more important partnership announcements to make in the not too distant future. This is serious policy. It makes a difference to young people's lives, but it also sets our economy up for a prosperous future for many years and decades to come.