Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House that 92 Queensland secondary school-aged trainees, including up to 40% with learning disabilities, who are undertaking school-based traineeships with Lightmare Studios in IT/Digital entertainment, are under threat of not finishing their traineeships’ work-place requirements due to COVID-19 related delays. Which in turn impacts their QCE, Graduation, pathways to employment and further study. The extremely rare 12+ years-old program in which they participate, critical to unique learners in desperate need of pathways, is also under threat of closure due to Covid.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to ask DESBT to recognise competency of student’s skills and relax the 100-day paid day requirement of the school-based traineeship to return to the 50-day requirement to enable all students to finish their traineeships. The Australian Human Rights Commission in the National Inquiry on Employment and Disability Interim Report details disabled students, often lacking social skills, already suffer both low rates of school completion and access to VET. We simply ask that traineeship participants thus be protect via the small request above.