Wednesday, 9 September 2026

 Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (10:13): It is a real pleasure to rise to speak on the Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s report into student pathways to in-demand industries, which we have just tabled this morning. This is a really important inquiry because it does talk about the future of this state. We know that the demand in our workforce is growing, and it is across health care, social assistance, construction, education and training, professional services, the clean economy and the digital economy. The Victorian Skills Authority predict that 87 per cent of new workers in the next decade are going to require a VET or higher education qualification. That is a statistic, but what is behind that statistic is a young person looking towards their future. They are making decisions about the subjects they may do at school, whether they will do further education, whether that might be an apprenticeship or training, and ultimately the kind of work that they would like to get into. We have a responsibility to make sure that those young people have the right information and the opportunities that they need to make those right decisions.

The clearest message we heard in this inquiry was that our careers education system absolutely needs to be strengthened. We heard that we have a shortage of qualified career practitioners in schools and about the impact staffing and resourcing constraints can have on this guidance. We heard that parents play a really critical role in helping young people make those decisions, but parents themselves are not always equipped with all the information that they need, especially to look at options other than university, which would be vocational education and training. Therefore career education needs to be more than just one conversation that happens at school.

We have a lot of other barriers that we looked at in this inquiry, and those include practical barriers like accessing VET, timetabling and cost, but also we had extra barriers for those students maybe who were regional students, First Nations students, students with a disability, female students and students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and additional education challenges around that training and employment and wraparound support.

There is a really particular thing I would like to mention about this inquiry that I think deserves stronger recognition today in my contribution, and that is the contribution of 10 youth associates, some of whom are here today. The committee did not simply want to ask young people what they thought; we wanted to make sure that they were part of this inquiry. They went and asked their peers for information. They presented then to the committee some of the data and some of the experiences that they had gathered. This brought different perspectives to the committee. It brought different angles and different ideas, and that diversity really mattered in our inquiry. I want to say too that it was not a contribution where they sat along an inquiry – their perspectives helped us make recommendations to the government. That is something that they should be very proud of, so I will take a moment to record my sincere thanks to each of our youth associates: Bianca, Dylan, Elijah, Harlequin, Matilda, Rowan, Atharva, Shanay, Sienna and Yesha. Thank you so much for giving your time, speaking with your peers and bringing this experience to the process.

Young people are not just our future. They are part of our communities now and they were making their voices heard. We should make sure that their voices are part of the decision-making that we are doing now for them. If we want young people to have confidence in our democracy and in our institutions, they need to see that Parliament is a place where their voice does matter. I want to make it clear on the record that they helped make this report better. They have helped our Parliament be better. They have shown us what meaningful youth participation can look like in this place.

Besides thanking the youth associates, I would also like to thank the deputy chair, the other committee members that were on the committee with me, the committee secretariat and the team, as well as Naomi, who supported the youth associates, and all the organisations, educators, employers, unions and community organisations who have contributed to this inquiry. But again, I am just so thankful to the youth associates. Thank you for reminding us that young people should not just be a simple subject of our inquiries, you should be part of them. I really hope that this inquiry is one example of how we can continue to make sure voices can be heard. I hope that this is a test case to see more young people being involved in our committee. I am really looking forward to the government’s response to the recommendations that we have made and making sure that we strengthen and improve the system so young people have the best advice and the best guidance to make sure that they have the best pathways to great careers.