Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Melba College

Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:51): I rise to update the house on a really exciting project that I have been working very hard on, and it happened last week when we were very fortunate to host the jobs, skills and training forum at Melba College. It was great to see so many school leavers who were seeking jobs and their parents come along to the forum. We had a number of government employers there but also employers from private industry, and I was very pleased to learn that Sheen panels, who came along, were promoting their Women in Collision initiative as they try and attract more women to come and join them and work in the automotive industry but more specifically in panelbeating. So I was really excited to hear about that initiative.

Also, there were plenty of other employers who have also got initiatives about attracting women and young school leavers into their workforce. This included Yarra Trams, for example. Yarra Trams are always on the lookout for tram drivers. All you need is a drivers licence, and they are always encouraging women to apply as well. The conditions are excellent, and also, if young school leavers are looking for well-paid, secure work, certainly that sort of job is a great start to their career while they think about whether there are any other things that they might want to do in terms of skills and training. So it was great to see them come along as well.

There were plenty of other training providers there, like TAFEs – we had Holmesglen TAFE – and some private registered training organisations as well. It is good to hear that some of the traditional trades jobs are also seeing an uptick in the number of school leavers that are coming along. It was a real pleasure to host that evening, and I look forward to doing that again with Melba College.