Renee Coffey (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased today to speak during National Skills Week, an important occasion to raise the profile and status of skills and vocational learning, and to showcase attractive career opportunities for all Australians. As our Minister for Skills and Training shared this week, the Albanese government is working hard to put TAFE at the centre of our vocational education and training system.

At TAFE campuses across the country, you see students from every walk of life learning together and sharing their experiences. You see staff who love what they do, bringing their industry know-how and real passion for their students' futures. And you see facilities that just keep getting better, keeping pace with the dreams of learners and the needs of local industries.

I saw this in action recently at my local TAFE Queensland, at the Mount Gravatt campus, which is located in my electorate of Griffith. There, students in Brisbane's south are offered a convenient location to pursue their study goals. You can study conservation and ecosystem management, entrepreneurship and new business, horticulture, accounts administration, early childhood education and care, and so much more. Mount Gravatt is also TAFE Queensland's fashion studies hub. It offers a range of applied fashion design and millinery courses and hosts an annual Brisbane fashion parade where students showcase their designs.

Recently, I commissioned award-winning local TAFE Queensland student Ella Taylor to design and create my gown for last night's 2025 Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery Midwinter Ball. As I'm sure you're aware, the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery Midwinter Ball is an annual charity gala bringing together parliamentarians, journalists and community leaders to raise funds for important causes. Ella Taylor, who is studying a Diploma of Applied Fashion Design and Merchandising at TAFE Queensland's Mount Gravatt campus, in my electorate of Griffith, recently won gold at the WorldSkills Australia National Championships. Supported by the Australian government, WorldSkills Australia is a social enterprise that passionately believes skills drive the future of young people and of Australia. WorldSkills Australia is part of an international WorldSkills movement, and since 1981 they have been enabling young people to showcase their trade and skills both here and overseas at competitions. I'm really proud to advise that Ella was recently selected for the national training squad for WorldSkills Australia, and the final squad—the Skillaroos—will be announced in the near future. Those selected Skillaroos will be competing in the 48th WorldSkills Competition held in Shanghai, China, from 22 September to 27 September next year.

With a national stage like the midwinter ball, it was important to me to use it to highlight the incredible local talent we have in my community of Griffith. Working closely with her WorldSkills mentor, Carol Costa—an amazing woman—Ella brought the gown to life, blending her technical excellence and creative flair. It started as a pencil sketch. She then fitted me, measured me, cut out the materials, sewed the gown together and did a final fitting. So much work went into this gown. It is important to Ella that she promotes sustainability in fashion, so she and Carol chose to use dead stock for the gown. Dead stock is surplus material that otherwise would have been discarded. The use of this fabric in Ella's creation can be seen as part of sustainable practice because it diverts materials from landfill. Ella is not only an incredibly gifted designer but also an inspiring example of the pathways available through TAFE. As the local MP, I see it as part of my role to showcase and celebrate this.

I also commissioned a local high school student and emerging designer from Cannon Hill Anglican College, Gabe McLoughlin, to create a bespoke clutch purse to accompany the gown. Gabe chose to hand bead a Cooktown orchid, which is Queensland's floral emblem. I'm also proud to advise that some of Gabe's work has recently been selected to be included as a finalist in the Queer Here exhibition as part of Brisbane's pride festival at Griffith University Queensland College of Art and Design in South Bank, which is also in my electorate. Both Ella and Gabe are rising stars in design and fashion.

Having worked in the education sector for much of my career, most recently supporting First Nations young people to pursue their career ambitions through both vocational and university pathways, I am passionate about educational choice. This week, our minister for skills and training outlined three key priorities that will be his focus for this term as the skills and training minister in our Albanese Labor government. The first is equally valuing vocational education and training, the second is supporting lifelong learning, something I know everyone in this place is passionate about, and the third is strengthening the partnerships that we, the Australian government, have already established. I passionately believe that all of these are essential in continuing to build a skills system that is responsive to the needs of the people in my community of Griffith, of Australians and of our Australian economy and also to create a skills system that puts vocational education and training on an equal footing with university. It is very clear we need graduates from both sectors to meet the challenges we will face as Australians in the coming years.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gabe McLoughlin and the wonderful art department at CHAC and also to thank Ella Taylor, her WorldSkills mentor Carol Costa and the fashion department at TAFE Queensland Mount Gravatt campus for all the work they put in. I was so proud last night to be able to showcase that at the ball.

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