Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently had the honour of opening Seymour FM's new commentary box in Kings Park. The commentary box was built by students of Broadford Secondary College, as part of their VET in Building and Construction. The students worked collaboratively and have left a finished product comparable to constructions built by some other commercial builders.

The project began last September and is now in regular use by Seymour FM. Greg Sharp, the presenter at Seymour FM, oversaw the construction, as he has an extensive background in building and construction. Two particular students were in attendance at the official opening of the Seymour FM commentary box, Rose White and Jimmy lncorvaia. Rose and Jimmy volunteered their time out of their school holidays to work on the project, to ensure it was completed on time for footy season. Greg even remarked that, if he was still in the building industry, he would have no hesitation in giving these young people a job. As he also said: 'They're bloody good workers.'

Greg is passionate about ensuring we have more opportunities and experiences like this in the workforce. He rallies community groups undertaking a particular construction project with the funds for materials but not necessarily those for the labour. Greg enables the students to work on real construction jobs—everything from measuring out all the way through to the finishing touches of construction. The previous project that Greg and the kids worked on was the clubrooms for the Mitchell Ranges Soccer Club. I wish to commend Greg, the students and the suppliers who were all involved in putting this project together to provide an asset for Seymour.