Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is a hard act to follow. I would like to see the member for Dunkley chase after Santa with his foot in its present state. Tonight, I will discuss a great initiative in my electorate of Holt, in the heart of the growth corridor in the south-eastern suburbs.

My electorate is often associated with the Fountain Gate shopping centre and a TV series with a well-known couple who used to shop there. But it is so much more. My electorate is the heart of one of the most dynamic growth belts in Australia. Interestingly, some 22 per cent of people in Holt are employed in the manufacturing industry, the highest proportion of any electorate in the country. In total, 44 per cent of workers in my electorate are employed as technicians, tradespeople, machinery operators, drivers and labourers. These people are good working people. They make our country tick and they contribute to our national prosperity.

The electorate is also one of the most heavily mortgaged in the country, with some 55 per cent of houses being owner occupied. My electorate lies, as the member for La Trobe knows, within the City of Casey—a council area the current population of which is approximately 246,000 people. At present, about 55 families, or 146 people, shift into the City of Casey each week. By 2021, the population of the City of Casey will be 320,000 and, by 2036, it is projected to be 450,000. Soon, the City of Casey is going to be larger than our nation’s capital city.

There will be enormous demands on all levels of government to accommodate that growth and we must all work together, whatever our political hue, to plan and to provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities for those who move to our area to make it their home and there to create their futures and the futures of their children. We have been moving and accommodating that growth through our Building the Education Revolution and through the recent—particularly during the height of the global financial crisis—grants of well over $10 million to the Casey council to assist with infrastructure development and job creation. I know that this money has been well spent and has been appreciated by the council in its expenditure on the substantial Casey Fields development and on roadworks, sporting facilities, resurfacing and renovation.

One astonishing fact is that there are 54,100 five- to 19-year-olds in the City of Casey. Many of these children will proceed to university. Many others will proceed to embark on a trade training course and achieve a much valued trade qualification. On this theme, one of my proudest moments as a member of parliament was when the then opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, articulated, during the 2007 election campaign, that a trade qualification was the equivalent of a university degree. This meant a huge amount to the many tradies in my electorate and to the many kids who aspire to get a trade.

I suspect that one element that influenced the former Prime Minister was a visit he made to the then Eummemerring Secondary School Hallam campus in 2007, where he saw first hand the transformative power of targeted trades programs staffed by visionary teachers and innovators like Keith Pimblett and Tom Halloran. Tom had forgone a large salary as a successful tradesman to teach at the school. Keith had had a very successful career in business before moving into teaching. The results of their combined efforts were outstanding, both in school results and in apprenticeships and job opportunities provided.

The former Prime Minister’s statement and what I have seen and observed provided a significant counterpoint to the long-held sentiments of those who derided the good working men and women who pursued trades in the eighties and the nineties. We know that, without the traditional trades and emerging trades, we just could not function as a community. We celebrate those who pursue a trades career and we celebrate their contribution to our community. One way of ensuring that continues was a commitment made by the then Rudd and now Gillard government to the construction of a trade training centre at Eummemerring.

I recently had the pleasure of turning the first sod on the first amalgamated trade training centre being constructed in my electorate. The federal government has committed $10.4 million to the Hallam Valley Trade Training and Skills Hub. This project is a cross-sectoral trade training centre that aims to provide job-ready training in traditional and emerging trades for senior school students at Hallam Senior Secondary College, Fountain Gate Secondary College, Gleneagles Secondary College, Endeavour Hills Secondary College, Hampton Park Secondary College, Narre Warren South P-12 College and St. Johns Regional College. This hub has particular relevance given its proximity to major manufacturing centres, the hubs, employers like Bombardier and Jayco and groups like Apprenticeships Group Australia.

This is the culmination of the vision of people like Keith Pimblett and Tom Halloran. We are providing the facilities needed for the future of our community. I had great pride in turning that sod, because I know the Hallam Valley Trade Training and Skills Hub is going to provide the future opportunities that tradies in our region need. (Time expired)