Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When a teacher asked Katherine Bennell-Pegg to list three careers, she wrote only one word and that was 'astronaut'; she never added a second or a third. And this was not about wishing upon a star. She wanted to work intentionally and systematically towards reaching for the stars. But she didn't just reach for the stars; she became a star, and she is now Australian of the Year, which I'm thrilled about.

In 2024, Katherine became the first person to qualify as an astronaut under the Australian flag, and now she is eligible for missions on the International Space Station. This is so unlikely. She was one of six trainees out of 22½ thousand applicants from 22 countries. Only one in 100 people qualified to be able to go on the International Space Station. Now she is blazing a path for space and bringing that ambition home to Australia for the next generation.

She matched her childhood dream with study, discipline and teamwork, through survival training, spacecraft systems, robotics and simulations. She was qualified, not because it was easy but because she was driven, and she wanted to make sure that she delivered excellence.

It's sometimes rare to see a childhood dream become a lifelong career, and unfortunately it's often very rare for women and young girls to follow that dream. I think of one of the mothers in my mothers group. Her name's Gemma Anderson, and she's a transient astronomer. She talks about how, when she was a little girl, she looked at a telescope for the first time with her father. She was probably not even in formal schooling, but she looked through that telescope, looked at the stars, and thought, 'This is the career for me.' So she knew from a young age that that's what she wanted to do, and I'm proud to see Gemma continuing to have an amazing career as an astronomer in the heart of Swan. But sometimes little girls have their dreams fade and don't have the opportunity to actually follow their dreams. I want to make sure that we lower the barriers, to make sure that everyone can achieve their full potential.

Katherine Bennell-Pegg calls astronauts 'scientists in the sky', small parts of a much bigger team on the ground. She reminds us that, from orbit, you can't see borders. She explains that space is not about escaping Earth, but about seeing it with clarity. Sometimes you need to do that big picture thinking to understand what the real problems are.

Katherine's message is not all about inspiration and dreams. There is important work to do to ensure that more women can pursue careers in STEM. And the broader picture for women in STEM is, indeed, sobering. Women account for about 15 per cent of people working in STEM jobs in Australia and about 37 per cent of STEM university enrolments. I'm hoping that we see those numbers improve. And we have seen some improvement. The CEO of Engineers Australia, Romilly Madew, reflected last year that women make up just 16 per cent of Australia's engineering workforce and only 12 per cent in construction. These figures don't reflect a lack of talent; they reflect structural barriers and outdated ideas of what an engineer looks like.

Too many young people, especially young women, despite having talent in maths and science, don't pursue careers in STEM. The social data on what exactly leads to this decision is not settled. However, we cannot be blinded by the obvious barriers, and these statistics reflect unacceptable structural and cultural barriers. What makes our Australian of the Year even more remarkable is that she surmounted them all. She is, indeed, Australia's first astronaut, and the thing that I would say is really cool is she won't be the last. I'm going to say this: sisters, step over the glass; the glass ceiling is cracked. We will see more astronauts happen in Australia. I don't know what that timeframe is though yet.

STEM, at the moment, for some industries and for some people, can feel like it's a bit of a boom-bust grind to see how long you can last in the field. Sometimes people go, 'This is enough,' or sometimes it's a boys club. If this continues, we will keep on losing brilliant minds. I think that's such a shame because I see STEM as one of the most exciting fields of work to work in.

When I go and visit students and speak to schools, one of the things I talk about is careers and the way that you can have an impact that's a positive difference on people's lives. I see STEM professions as being one of the most profound ways to do that. Sometimes one of the questions that I ask students is, 'Which profession has saved the most lives?' This is probably debatable, but I would say that it's not necessarily doctors. They do have a lot of exciting television shows about them. I argue that it is, indeed, engineers, specifically through access to clean water and sanitation. One of the things that we've seen from, I guess, an industrial revolution perspective is the improved life expectancies of people. Access to sanitation has improved people's life expectancies. That's what happens when you've got clean water and you've got good sewerage systems.

That's just one example, but I think that there are so many different ways that people can actually improve our world. People can think about what their impact will be and what their legacy will be, and this is a way that you can do it on quite a grand scale. I want to make sure that the next generation think about all the career paths that they have and that they see STEM professions as something that they can contribute to and make a wonderful contribution to. This is something that Katherine shares wholeheartedly. I think that we need to make sure that we look at the ways that we can incorporate more people into this field, whether it's the sports field or the STEM field.

For me, a STEM profession hasn't taken me exactly where I had imagined. I did start my career in steel capped boots on a mine site, and then I had an opportunity to think about whether I would go to America and work in Virginia or go work for the World Bank in Bangladesh. I picked the opportunity to go work in water and sanitation in Bangladesh, which was wonderful. Then, after that, I had the opportunity to work in decarbonisation. I worked for an amazing team, for amazing companies all across Western Australia and Australia, and it felt so rewarding to have the opportunity to do that. But that's where I would also say that I do not only want more people to think about STEM fields; I also want people to think about parliamentary careers as well. Whether it's cultural backgrounds, gender or work skills, I think the more diversity that we have in this place the better decisions the we will make as a whole. I want to continue to see that diversity, whether it be in STEM or the federal parliament.

This government has been working intentionally to look at diversity in STEM. In fact, we had the Statement on the pathway to diversity in STEM review, which sets out a whole-of-life approach, from early learning to school to VET and universities, to make sure that we think about how we have inclusive workplaces. This will be backed by better data through a STEM equity monitor. Its principle is simple: equity is not optional; it is foundational.

At the same time, we're wiring the economy to make STEM careers visible, valuable and more secure. The $5 billion Net Zero Fund is set to be operational in mid-2026. It demonstrates globally competitive finance, delivering confidence to investors, manufacturers, heavy industry, Australian workers and communities. Australia is open for business and committed to capturing opportunities of the global energy transformation. This policy targets a rate of return below the five-year government bond rate, so we can take on more risk in hard-to-abate sectors. This fund should be operational by mid-2026.

We're also set to run in a global AI race. The National AI Plan sets three goals: capture the opportunity, spread the benefits and keep Australia safe. To underpin safety, we're establishing an AI Safety Institute to monitor, test and share information on emerging AI capabilities. There is so much work to do in the STEM field. It's very exciting.