WorldSkills Australia National Championships

Mr BROWN (Florey) (15:06): My question is to the Minister for Education, Training and Skills. Can the minister update the house on the recent WorldSkills National Championships in Brisbane, and provide information about the next national championships?

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (15:06): I thank the member for Florey for this question. I am very happy to give the house an update on the National WorldSkills Championships, which were held in Brisbane from last week.

It was a great thrill for me to be able to travel up there and visit, and have a walk around the Brisbane Convention Centre and see about 600 competitors who were there from all states and territories competing in about 64 different categories. That included everything from competing for a gold medal in bakery and patisserie to mechatronics to welding to landscape gardening.

This year the South Australian team was the biggest team we have fielded at the national championships in a very, very long time. In fact in 2023, when we got back into WorldSkills—it was something this government thought we needed to do, given the huge pipeline of VET-trained staff we will need across the next few years—we had only seven members in the team. This year I can say that the South Australian contingent was 63 competitors, and the exciting news is that we performed really well; in fact, we had 16 medals and 12 certificates of excellence, and out of those 16 medals three were gold, seven were silver, and six were bronze.

I want to use this opportunity to put on the record the names of a few of those who really did our state proud in those competitions. We had: Emilie Flavel, who won a gold medal in graphic design; Angus Blanksby from Aberfoyle Park High School, who in the VET in Schools Carpentry section won a gold medal; and Andrew Sherman, from Findon Tech College, again in VET in Schools in welding, who won a gold medal and who has already started his apprenticeship with BAE.

There were seven silver medallists as well, including: Nazif Sohel, who won in IT; Jemma Glatz in painting and decorating; Isaac Schubert in carpentry; Amity Lob in cookery; Austin Riddell in graphic design; Lachlan Leake in fitting; and Jet Mules in welding.

Then there were the six bronze medallists: Jade Woonton, who won in welding; Nicolas Andresakis, who won in barbering; Oliver Anthonysz, who won in wall and floor tiling; Thomas Scott, who won in motorcycle mechanics; Tyson Read in welding; and Jayden Lines in plumbing and heating. As members can see, this was an incredibly successful championship for our state.

The good news on top of all that, though, which the member for Florey alluded to in his question, is that we have successfully bid for the national championships for WorldSkills here in Adelaide in 2027. That is going to be a fantastic opportunity for us to not just showcase what we are doing in terms of our hands-on pathways and our tech colleges, but also the amazing skills that are out there amongst our young people.

I can also say it is a huge opportunity. It was certainly an opportunity that Brisbane utilised to maximum ability, and that was to allow high school students of all ages to spend the day coming in as part of a jobs expo but to also see those older students who were there actually competing.

I think, if we want to talk about the things that will really move the dial in terms of inspiring and motivating young people to choose a pathway in these hands-on careers that our state desperately needs them to choose, there is nothing more powerful than them going to see their peers competing in events like plumbing, welding, landscape gardening and electro tech for a gold medal and actually winning the opportunity, as have three of our own contestants here, to actually represent Australia in the international competition. It was a very proud moment and I look forward to, I hope, being able to update this place about some more good news once we have that WorldSkills competition here in South Australia.