LE CORDON BLEU AUSTRALIA

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:44): On Saturday 4 September it was my pleasure to represent the Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education in the other place, the Hon. Jack Snelling MP, on the occasion of the Le Cordon Bleu graduation gala dinner. This year's celebration was particularly special because it marked the 10^th anniversary of Le Cordon Bleu Australia's first graduation.

I was honoured to help celebrate the achievements of the latest group of successful hospitality management students, who represented all management disciplines from the special Bachelor of Business awards through to the masters awards. The graduates hailed from more than 20 countries, a truly varied group, which illustrated the great opportunities South Australia and Le Cordon Bleu provide to young people across the world.

Le Cordon Bleu, which began in Paris in 1895, has grown to become the world's largest culinary, hospitality and tourism educational organisation, with some 30 schools in 15 countries teaching over 23,000 students a year. Le Cordon Bleu Australia has achieved outstanding success by offering world-leading courses, with a very strong focus on anticipating and meeting the needs of the hospitality sector. Evidence of this was the establishment of its own academic resource centre, the only creator of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the global Le Cordon Bleu network. Le Cordon Bleu chose to establish its Australian academic base here in Adelaide, and the organisation currently supports more than 750 students across all its programs, and that is arguably the largest student group of any private provider of hospitality education in South Australia.

All programs, with the exception of the gastronomy program, incorporate an industry placement component to give students real workplace skills, and the gastronomy program includes a strong research element to provide a solid knowledge base. This means that the program is able to consistently turn out quality graduates who are ready to excel in the industry once they have completed their studies.

Alliances with other educational institutions such as Adelaide University, the University of South Australia and the Regency International Centre, among others, continue to ensure that Le Cordon Bleu's courses remain at the forefront of hospitality industry training. Each graduating student receives quality teaching and gains valuable experience which they will carry with them for the rest of their lives, and I am sure they also play their part in enriching our state with their culture, experience and ideas.

At different times in my parliamentary career I have been pleased to be involved at the policy level in various roles throughout the food and wine industries. In all my involvement I have had the opportunity to work with committed and passionate people who are innovators in their field and who to strive to deliver the very best products and services. I appreciate the importance of the food, wine, hospitality and tourism industries, not just because they are major employers and economic drivers for our state but also because, above all, they deliver something that this state is renowned for: a wonderful lifestyle. Graduates from Le Cordon Bleu acquire an education and a set of skills which put them at the pinnacle of being able to deliver such experiences with passion and pride.

The state government is committed to quality, industry-relevant education and believes that training should be driven by the needs and the demands of industry. We know that this the best way to build a highly skilled workforce that will lead our economy to a prosperous future. I am certain that the chamber joins me in offering congratulations on the achievements of these students and wishing them well as they each go on to forge a new future, while representing our great state's educational ethos.