SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:10): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister update the house on the latest SACE board data, including data relating to students eligible for further education?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:10): I thank the honourable member for his question, and for his particular interest in vocational education. Yes, Madam Speaker, I did have the pleasure yesterday of tabling the SACE board's annual report for 2010, and it contained some data that reflected very well on the South Australian education system.

So, it was with some surprise today that I saw the member for Unley's remarks being recorded, where he told the South Australian community that fewer students in South Australia are completing year 12 and getting their SACE. He also criticised the increase in the number of students who were, in fact, achieving their TAFE selection score, and he concluded that the education system therefore had failed. He relied, for his conclusions, on the SACE board report that I tabled yesterday. The report, in fact, discloses the opposite.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, the number of South Australian students completing their SACE has increased from 12,521 to 12,692; not decreased, as the member for Unley has asserted.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Bragg!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, the member for Unley is completely wrong. He has used the wrong table. He sent out a press release so we can see his chain of reasoning—so we can see how he got it wrong. He has actually used the wrong table in the report. He has used a table in the report which not only does not deal with SACE completions, it also aggregates Northern Territory and overseas students as part of that table. He has helpfully concluded that the education system has failed, and he has also added for good measure that I have failed my first test, and Madam Speaker—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It is worth pausing for a moment to reflect on this. This is the—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I appreciate there is a degree of embarrassment by those opposite for the member for Unley—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, the students and teachers, and the families that are responsible for these impressive achievements; that is, getting a student through year 12, or getting them on to further education through the TAFE system, are entitled to feel proud of their children. What they should not have to put up with is somebody who is named by the opposition as their education spokesperson promoting publicly the denigration of their good efforts and achievements. The member for Unley—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, this does bear on the capacity and competence of the member for Unley.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It bears on his—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: At least he used a genuine document.

The SPEAKER: Order, Minister for Transport!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It bears on his capacity to take a report—a published report—to read it, to read the numbers and the words, and draw conclusions from them and actually promote those accurately. He did it with some confidence, so he was aggressively wrong; he wasn't just wrong. He asserted it with some confidence and—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Norwood!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, as I said, this is not the first time that he has attacked our public education system. He has done it on a number of occasions. He has, of course, famously described our education system as rotten to the core, which is an appalling denigration of the fine teachers and their efforts in achieving the outstanding results.

Madam Speaker, can I address the other error that is contained in his public remarks because it is an egregious one? He has suggested that somehow it is a matter of criticism that there is an increased number of students receiving a TAFE selection score, something I would have thought should be celebrated, not denigrated. We are in this state on the edge of a massive transformation in our economy where the opportunities for young people are absolutely endless if they gain the skills that are needed by the new economy. We know that about 60 per cent of the jobs that will be created in this transformed economy will require the sort of skills that are dealt with and provided by the vocational education system through our TAFE.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Finniss!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, I appreciate there is a degree of embarrassment for the member for Unley, who cannot get—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I don't want to upset the man. He's had a bad enough day as it is. Madam Speaker, the honourable member has criticised—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The honourable member has criticised those students for making an intelligent choice. He has criticised them for making an intelligent choice.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Norwood, you are warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: He has implied that it is a second-class choice to choose a trade or some vocational choice.

Mr PISONI: Point of order, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order. The member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: I am a tradesman myself, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: And they have never let him forget it. He's ashamed of it and he's walking away from it. This is the opportunity—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order. Member for Unley.

Mr PISONI: The member is inferring improper motives of the member for Unley. I am very proud of my trade heritage.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I can't hear what you are saying.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Madam Speaker, happy enough to throw a punch—'have failed my first test'—happy enough to throw a punch but having a little bit of trouble taking it back when he has made an obvious and blatant error. We know the research demonstrates that if those young people who are going to leave school get some trade or other qualification, their lifetime earnings are likely to be a million dollars higher than their counterparts who did not complete school. How dare you denigrate their choice of improving themselves—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and taking advantage of the opportunities that we have played a significant role in creating in this state.

The SPEAKER: Order! This is not a classroom. In fact, it is far worse behaviour than in the classrooms of some of those young people in the gallery, I am sure. The Leader of the Opposition.