Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This week students at Leonay Public School in my electorate of Lindsay are embarking on their school Canberra trip, and I'll be meeting them here at Parliament House. It's always a delight to see local students here in our nation's parliament getting a hands-on lesson in Australian democracy, and their excitement and engagement truly is heartwarming. When I meet with students both here and in my community, what's always at the front of my mind is: are they being educated and trained with the skills that they need to take on the jobs of the future?

The Minister for Education and Youth recently joined me in Penrith, where I brought together a number of our local principals as well as met with Western Sydney University to discuss the challenges and opportunities for schools and students in our community. I've also recently brought the Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business to meet with my Advancing Manufacturing Taskforce, with representatives from schools, TAFE, universities and our strong local manufacturing industry. Both discussions with schools and with industry emphasise the need to ensure education is preparing these students, equipping them with the right skills for the jobs, that are coming to Western Sydney, but we are not there yet.

The classrooms of today across Western Sydney are playing the most central role in educating our kids with the jobs of the future. It is absolutely essential we are getting the settings right, from the school curriculum to how our teachers are being trained, to ensure students have the skills they will need to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead. This is an issue I have been passionate about since my first day in parliament and long before. In my maiden speech to parliament I asked:

How do we move the dial so that more people can work where they live? The answer is in Lindsay. We ensure that Lindsay's world-class education institutions … are training our local kids in the jobs of the future. This starts in school and connects all the way through to post school education and workforce training.

It is imperative that today, in classrooms across Western Sydney, these students are being taught by experienced and qualified teachers with STEM backgrounds. How will local people be prepared, educated and trained in the jobs of the future if their teachers aren't?

We have an opportunity here that we cannot let pass. Western Sydney is poised to create tens of thousands of jobs, developing the emerging industries in advanced manufacturing, defence, space, research and medicine. The investment in the Western Sydney airport and Aerotropolis precinct offers a unique opportunity for us to seize the emerging advanced manufacturing industry. COVID-19 has reaffirmed the importance of a sovereign manufacturing capability onshore, and the private sector recognises the potential of our regions.

I join the Prime Minister in welcoming Visy's $2 billion commitment over 10 years into its Australian operations, made right in the heart of Penrith. The Sydney Science Park, a $5 billion private industry investment, is set to transform Luddenham into a hub for research, education, innovation and commercialisation. They too recognise Western Sydney's potential with the government's investment and desire to accelerate advanced manufacturing. To make the most of this investment in our community, we must ensure that our children are developing the skills they will need, and this all comes back to the classroom. We must do more to encourage, recruit and keep STEM professionals in teaching to ensure local people are ready for these local jobs.

The Minister for Education and Youth has launched a review looking at how to attract high-quality teachers and better prepare them to be effective in the classroom. The Quality Initial Teacher Education Review panel's discussion paper notes that quality teaching is the most significant in-school driver of student outcomes and school quality, accounting for up to 30 per cent of the variance in achievement. I'm concerned, particularly focusing on STEM, that there are longstanding shortages of STEM teachers. Data also shows that up to 17 per cent of STEM teachers are not teaching STEM. This is at a year 10 level, when children are being prepared to enter the workforce and further education. Instead, they are teaching non-STEM subjects. The review's focus on attracting and selecting high-quality candidates into teaching and to prepare initial teacher education students to be effective teachers could not be more important in my electorate of Lindsay. I will be working closely with the minister—and we've already had discussions—as the review progresses to ensure that we are leading qualified STEM professionals into classrooms right across Western Sydney to prepare our children, particularly in Lindsay, for the jobs of the future.

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