Legislative Council Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2) 53 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Matters of Interest STEM Education STEM Education The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council The Hon. G.E. GAGO (15:40): The South Australian Labor government has been working to bring STEM focus into the lives of young South Australians. It is estimated that 75 per cent of jobs within the next 10 years will need STEM skills. Giving our young people in this state STEM skills and training will be invaluable in ensuring South Australia's future and the future of our young people. The progress this government has made can be shown in our commitment to better public education in STEM subjects through the STEM Works program, ensuring a $250 million investment across 139 schools. The Labor government has also committed to ensuring that every primary school in the state will have a minimum of one teacher with a STEM specialisation by 2019, as well as providing $1 million in scholarships to 110 high-school students in under-represented groups to make STEM more accessible to everybody. Although we need to work to ensure that a future in STEM is possible and realised by all young people, we need to be aware of the serious under-representation of women in STEM fields. Last year, the Office of the Chief Scientist for Australia released a report analysing the 2011 census data around STEM professionals. The results for women were very disappointing. Less than one-third of STEM-qualified university graduates were female, and when looking at the workforce as a whole, including VET-trained workers, only 16 per cent of STEM-qualified professionals were female. In addition to the vast difference in representation, the report also shows the large gender pay gap in STEM which the Chief Scientist, Dr Finkel, stated cannot be explained as a result of carer responsibilities or the higher proportion of women working part-time. Whilst I hope that the numbers from the 2016 census will show significant progress from those of 2011, there will still be more to do to increase the number of women in STEM and close the gender pay gap permanently. Increasing the representation of women in STEM and ensuring that all young people in South Australia gain the skills they need to thrive in the future are key issues that need to be addressed. I applaud the work done in this area by the Labor government of South Australia. In particular, the work done by the Office for Women to promote women in STEM by providing resources to support and encourage community and stakeholder engagement is invaluable. The work done to encourage both young people and women into STEM can be seen across all aspects of society, including within the STEM community and in both the public and private sectors. With this in mind, I welcome the announcement from Science and Technology Australia regarding their STEM Superstars. These STEM Superstars are 30 female STEM professionals who have been selected as role models, advocates and mentors for the next generation of women in STEM. Through the Superstar program, they will receive training in advanced public speaking, media management, communication with decision-makers and becoming online influencers to assist them to work towards equal representation of women in STEM. I believe this program will be influential in giving more young women and schoolgirls the ability to truly see themselves potentially as future STEM leaders. In a wonderful outcome for our state, five of the 30 STEM Superstars are leading South Australian women. These leading women include Professor Justine Smith from Flinders University and four amazing women from the University of Adelaide—Professor Rachel Burton, Dr Pallave Dasari, Dr Sanam Mustafa and Dr Hannah Brown. I applaud these women both for the work they have already done to promote STEM to young women and break down gender barriers and for the work I am sure they will continue to go on to do. I encourage all of those young women and young people who are investing in STEM as part of their current education and who are our potential STEM stars of the future. In particular, I would like to congratulate the joint recipients of this year's Terry Roberts Memorial Scholarship who are two young Aboriginal women studying STEM at university. India Shackleford is studying a Bachelor of Enhanced Science (Honours) at Flinders University and Tallulah Bilney is studying a Bachelor of Nursing at the University of Adelaide. Both of these young women have a bright future ahead of them and I am sure Terry Roberts would be extremely proud and excited about the progress we have made towards a better future for all South Australians. I would certainly like to encourage all members of parliament and all governments to continue to support women and all young people to invest in STEM for their futures.