Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Parramatta just over one in four people, about 26 per cent, of those enrolled in an educational institution are attending a tertiary or a technical institute. That is well above the national average of 21.6 per cent. In fact, across Parramatta, 14,000 people attend a tertiary or a technical institution. Two hundred and thirty-eight of those 14,000 students attend the newest kid on the block, Evocca College, which opened its new building, its new home in Parramatta, on Friday.

To call Evocca the new kid on the block is perhaps unfair. It does have campuses all across Australia, and it is in fact one of the few nationally accredited registered training organisations that is qualified to offer VET FEE-HELP. As a great new addition to Parramatta that sits alongside a number of other very good training colleges and of course our quite wonderful Granville TAFE, it is very welcome in the electorate of Parramatta.

I thank Auntie Donna for a great welcome to country to welcome them to our home in Parramatta; Vickie Sweeney, who is the branch manager, who gave us all a very warm welcome; and of course Roger Byrne, from the local chamber of commerce, who attended as well. But particularly I say thank you to the many students of Evocca College who turned up that day to say hello and to see the official opening of a great addition to Parramatta.