Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak about two foundations that are operating in Perth. The Motivation Foundation is an education and training organisation that trains young people in civil and infrastructure construction, offering various certificates. They also seek to improve the employability of their students, addressing life skills and acting as if they are their students' employer. One of the largest barriers to engagement in life is the lack of a drivers licence. Over 70 per cent of the wider population has a licence. This number drastically falls when you look to our lower socioeconomic communities. The McGovern Foundation is seeking to improve these figures by offering driving supervisors and vehicles. The beauty of their model is that, while they are undertaking the driver training, they are also mentoring and bonding with their students. The Motivation and McGovern foundations are working together and are getting extraordinary, amazing results. I thank them very much for the work that they do and also for hosting me at their facilities a few weeks ago.

Despite much good work being done to help disadvantaged Australians to access services such as drivers licences, the gap still remains, and I feel that the answer may lie in technology. I'm currently teaching my daughter how to drive. While my hair is getting greyer and thinner, scenarios requiring evasive action are rare. If we could allow students to accumulate in a driving simulator some of the hours that they're required to do, we could virtually create those scenarios while addressing the issue for kids that otherwise don't have access to a driver's licenced vehicle or even someone who has a drivers licence to instruct them. If we can teach pilots, train drivers and dump truck operators in a simulator, why can't we teach someone to drive a car? Almost every job requires a drivers licence to either perform the task or get to the job. It is a major barrier that needs to be addressed and it's one that— (Time expired)