Mrs Middendorf, who co-owns Central Otago Sports Depot with her husband, Stu, said the school leavers' toolkit, outlined in the Budget, was a positive move because it would benefit local businesses which employed school leavers in the local community.
The aim of the toolkit is to ensure all secondary school pupils have access to programmes that provide civics knowledge and skills, financial literacy and key workplace competencies.
Mrs Middendorf said it was also pleasing to see the reform of New Zealand's vocational education and training system in the Budget.
It aims to prepare young people for the workforce with skills they will need.
"I hope [it] will result in some meaningful change and actually see more young people in industries, which desperately need more employees, for example construction [and] auto mechanics, that sort of thing. That's the thing Central is struggling with and there's a shortage of skilled trades people, in particular, to cope with our growth,'' Mrs Middendorf said.
