Guests at the breakfast included, from left, Liberal candidate for South Eastern Metropolitan Inga Peulich, Enterprise Club 200 members Darius Mikoljewski of Endeavour Hills and Bruce Shaw of Berwick.By Jim Mynard
THE Opposition spokesperson for small to medium enterprises, Workcover, sport and recreation Bruce Atkinson told Liberal candidates they would have to get up early to be at Spring Street on time for sittings if they won seats in the November election.
Mr Atkinson said the Hallam Freeway was underbuilt and motorists now faced a toll on the Eastlink and there would be no connection for people who wanted to travel south from Monash Freeway via the new Eastlink tollway.
Mr Atkinson was guest speaker at the Wednesday 17 May Enterprise 200 Club breakfast meeting held at the Berwick Springs Hotel.
He said freeway traffic bottlenecks had become a major issue for people in the east.
Mr Atkinson also echoed the words of former LaTrobe MP Bob Charles when he said too many parents and teachers were steering students away from the practical trades.
He said there had been an attitude that the trades had no future.
“This line of thinking actually pulls those industries down,” Mr Atkinson said.
“We need to think carefully about skill development.
“We need more technical training an less useless university degrees.”
Mr Atkinson said there was also a problem in industry when firms that trained young people had them pinched by another firm.
He said people should note that real opportunities existed for young people in the trades.
