Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending CQU—Central Queensland University—Gladstone Marina campus to inspect the ongoing construction of the new trade training centre. The facility is on track for completion by the end of this year, so there's only eight weeks to go. It's been funded by the Australian government for $10 million and the CQU, themselves, who tipped in $2½ million to complete the project. Once completed, their facility will accommodate the delivery of vocational training skills in the region in workshop rooms, teaching spaces and a hair and beauty salon. The trade training centre consists of two separate buildings: the trade training centre with 3,000 square metres under the roof and the hair and beauty salon with 500 square metres under the roof. It will help the university to deliver courses that are accessible for local students.

I fully believe training locals for local jobs is the way to go. This is specifically important to rural areas like Gladstone, and there are towns like Biloela and Monto, Miriam Vale, Mount Larcom and Calliope which will also benefit from these training skills. This will enhance a fuller community engagement in Gladstone. On at least one occasion this year an electrical contractor in Gladstone told me that he had won a contract in Blackwater in a coalmine. The contract involved around 12 electricians. He was not even able to recruit one electrician for this project and had to return the tender to the mine.

With the skills centre up and running, these shortages will become less of an issue in the future. The centre will benefit a broad range of businesses and help the surrounding districts with the skills they are lacking at the moment. The new facility will provide a training centre for undergraduate and postgraduate students to further their training in Gladstone without having to move to a capital city. I would like to congratulate all those involved in the trade centre for the progress that has been made since the beginning of this year. It's another great achievement for the Flynn electorate. I urge parents to consider putting their children through a trade as opposed to a university degree. There is good money to be made in this field.