Hi, I am Kyle and I’m 24. I moved to the Gold Coast 9 years ago from Hobart. When I graduated school in 2019 I didn’t know what I wanted to do until I came across a job advertisement for a locksmith on Seek. I remembered messing around with locks and keys when I was a kid so I thought why not? It could be fun. So, I applied to almost a dozen different locksmith businesses on the Gold Coast to see if I could get an apprenticeship. After almost giving up hope, I got a call for a job interview at SPL Security. My resume had been passed along to them by TAFE for consideration for any future positions. I got the job in under a week.

3 ½ years later, I finished my apprenticeship early and became a qualified locksmith.

Attention to detail, a good work ethic, the willingness and determination to learn and improve upon your skills. Anyone can be a good locksmith if they put their mind to it. It doesn’t matter if you have trouble reading, aren’t the best at maths or don’t have the best ability or knowledge when it comes to tools, anyone can pick it up and learn the skills needed to be a great locksmith with training and determination.

But it takes a truly great locksmith to combine those skills with empathy, integrity, and genuine care for the people we serve.

As time goes on, whether it be the next 10–20 years, I believe that the industry will inevitably change and shift from the traditional locksmithing that we know well, and there will be fewer keys cut, cylinders pinned up, and mechanical locks installed.

It may be hard for traditional locksmiths to adjust as more people choose electronic locks and digital keys operated by mobile phones. Whether this will be a good or a bad thing for the industry as a whole, I don’t know. But we need to constantly evolve as the technologies change.

As we have also seen recently, I think members of the general public will begin to distrust locksmiths as a whole due to the actions of those people who call themselves “locksmiths” with the intention of doing wrong and scamming consumers. The MLAA, the Locksmiths Guild, and the Government need to crack down on these people and come together to find a way to stop this as it gives the industry a bad name.

Do I think I am Australia’s best young locksmith? No. I guarantee someone out there is better than me in one way or another when it comes to our abilities as locksmiths.

But that doesn’t mean that I’m not one of the best. My hands-on skills might not be as refined as some others, but I’ve come a long way from not knowing how to use tools at all, to being a qualified locksmith. The skills I have learnt I am passing along to our next generation of apprentices as a Workshop Coordinator, as well as supplying our on-road locksmiths with the parts they require for their jobs on a daily basis.

I am hardworking and I think my drive and ambitions will be recognised by winning this award.