CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY TRAINING BOARD

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (14:20): My question is to the Treasurer. Is the Treasurer aware that the Construction Industry Training Board has, for the first time in its history, suspended its training operation funding because minister Kenyon has refused to sign a training plan by 1 July and as a result the Construction Industry Training Board has ceased funding under its training plan to trainees and apprentices? On the Construction Industry Training Board website today is a message to all trainees and apprentices, all registered training organisations and all group training organisations. The message is this:

The Construction Industry Training Board has suspended Training Funding because The Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Mr Tom Kenyon, has withheld approval for the CITB's Annual Training Plan. This means that any new training transaction undertaken by the Board would constitute an incurred liability which would be beyond the power of the CITB.

As a result, the CITB is unable to transact business in respect of its ATP.

Until the situation is resolved, any shortfall in the cost of training which results from this will need to be met either by the apprentices and trainees themselves or their employers.

This is the first time in the history of CITB that this has occurred.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Treasurer, Minister for Workers Rehabilitation, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:22): I am not aware of that, but I am aware of the general background of the issues between the government and the CITB. The CIT—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I am not going to speak over the top of them, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: No.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I will not speak over the top of them. There is a policy disagreement between the government and the CITB which we are attempting to resolve, and that is basically over the way the CITB expends the money that it collects—

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Davenport, you have asked your question.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —from the levies that are imposed upon people who are building. You have to keep in mind that the levy is generally passed on to consumers. People who build houses and other people engaged in procuring the services of the construction industry pay, overwhelmingly, the bulk of the levy because it is generally passed on to consumers. It is not absorbed by industry.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: So, government has a legitimate role to play in working with the CITB in the way those funds are expended. The CITB has traditionally expended a large proportion of those funds on incentives to employers to employ trainees and apprentices. That is not an illegitimate thing. There is nothing improper about them expending those funds in that way, but there is a policy issue, where the government and CITB—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Those Muppets.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Waldorf and—I have forgotten the second Muppet. Waldorf and—

An honourable member: Statler.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —Statler. Waldorf and Statler, thank you. There is a policy disagreement between the CITB and the government over the best way to spend that money. The government's view is that those funds should be expended principally towards the cost of training rather than on—

The Hon. I.F. Evans: They've suspended it. It's not happening.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Davenport, you have asked your question.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —employer incentives. That is not to say, as I reiterate, that there is anything improper with the CITB choosing—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —to expend money that way; however, there is a policy difference between the government and the CITB. The government's view is that the bulk of those funds, or an increasing amount of those funds, should be expended towards assisting people who want to enter the construction industry with the cost of their training. We think that that is a better use of those funds rather than on—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Madam Speaker, I am answering the question. I am not entering into debate, and yet I have to deal with the rabble opposite, who are obviously unfit for government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Unfit for government.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Unfit for government.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Davenport!

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I presume that the reason for the minister being unwilling to sign off on the training plan by the CITB is related to this dispute, a dispute which we are attempting to resolve between the CITB and the government and which we hope will soon be brought to a satisfactory conclusion.