Tech Packs Launch
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Sep 02 2008
2008 >>

Mr LAWLOR (Southport—ALP) (4.59 pm): On the sixth of this month at Southport State High School it was my pleasure to represent the minister for public works and housing, the Hon. Robert Schwarten, at the launch of the Tech Packs project. Also present were my parliamentary colleagues the member for Burleigh, Christine Smith, and the member for Broadwater, Peta-Kaye Croft. The Tech Packs project was developed in partnership with the Queensland government’s Community Renewal Program, the Smith Family and Green PC. It provides free computers and software to 100 families participating in the Smith Family’s learning for life program across Labrador, Southport and Varsity Lakes. It also delivers computer training workshops for students and their families. The project’s aim is to offer equal access to educational opportunities through tools and support that encourage young people to complete their secondary education and pursue further studies at TAFE
or university.

I acknowledge the commitment of the two Smith Family project officers, Alex Spedding and Kristan Roane, who did an excellent job in assisting families to access the free computer packages. I
also thank computer teacher Greg Lloyd, who delivered the training for these families. I understand that he turned challenging computer language into something that was easy to understand, making the
training fun to learn for everyone involved. I might have to get him to give me a few lessons. The computer package, training and friendly support have combined to make a great gift that will
help promote an enjoyable learning experience and spark students’ interest in all sorts of areas and create lifelong learners. We had a presentation on three-dimensional animation work conducted by the
very talented Griffith University student Brie Gordon-Krueger. I am sure her work will inspire other young people and shows how much this type of project can assist students striving to achieve their dreams.


Congratulations to the Smith Family on its 10th anniversary on the Gold Coast. It is supporting more than 740 students across the Gold Coast through the Smith Family’s learning for life scholarship program. The Queensland government through its Community Renewal Program, which is coordinated by the Department of Housing, is supporting this initiative with funding of more than $71,000.
Community renewal works closely with communities to fund and coordinate projects that will be of lasting benefit to local residents.

Since 1998 the state government, through its Community Renewal Program, has invested more than $112 million in renewing communities around Queensland including almost $10 million in the Gold Coast area. So thanks to all of the enthusiastic people who believed in this important project and who have worked to help the children of our community get a head start in life. I hope there will be many
more projects similar to this one.

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