Western Student Connections will hold a festival in Dubbo showcasing student skills with $80,000 under Round 3 of the Coalition Government’s highly successful Building Better Regions Fund.

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has congratulated the recipients, and said the weeklong event will be an important celebration of the region’s youth and their skillsets.

“The ‘What YOUth Can Do – A Festival of Skills’ will be a weeklong event in Dubbo to showcase the skills of our vocational educational training (VET) students in years 9-12,” Mr Coulton said.

“It will also help students gain mandatory work experience for their studies in Hospitality and Entertainment.

“It is projects such as this that make our regional communities even better places to live, work and raise a family and I’m excited to see the positive difference this funding will make to the community.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack said the Liberal and Nationals Government is committed to ensuring Australia’s regions remain strong, resilient and prosperous in the long term.

“We are supporting our regions through investing in important local infrastructure, as well as great community-building and planning initiatives under the Building Better Regions Fund and other Government priorities such as the Regional Growth Fund and our decentralisation agenda,” Mr McCormack said.

“In this round we are also investing more than $70 million in regional tourism infrastructure, to support those many regional communities that rely on tourism to bolster their economy.

“We have seen fantastic outcomes from the first two rounds, and today’s announcement continues our commitment to unlocking the economic potential of regional Australia and ensuring our regions continue to thrive.”

CEO/Manager of Western Student Connections, Ana Pateman, welcomed the funding announcement.

“This grant will allow Western Student Connections to showcase the skills of the young people in our communities who are enrolled in a VET course for the Higher School Certificate (HSC),” Ms Pateman said.

“We are hoping to make the “What YOUth Can Do” festival an annual event in the Dubbo regional calendar, and we thank the Federal Government for this important funding.”

Photo Caption (L-R): Western Student Connections’ Richard Mutton – School, Industry Liaison Officer; Mark Coulton – Member for Parkes; Ana Pateman – WSC CEO/Manager; and Garry Brown – Chair of the WSC Board.