Vocational Education and Training

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): Supplementary: how can the Premier say that his government will be delivering a first-class training system when the reality is that we will be going from 165,000 funded places last financial year to less than 81,000 funded places next financial year?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:21): This is the natural consequence of the ending of a very substantial investment in skills training. We said we would train 100,000 additional training places and, indeed, we exceeded that. We trained many more than 100,000. That program is now at an end—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Finniss is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and we're returning to levels of training effort which really existed prior to the establishment of that program.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We are, of course, putting in place a much better and targeted and, we think, more effective system of funding training and education, making sure there is a direct relationship between the training and the job.

Mr Gardner: It's getting rid of all the competition.

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: While it is naturally beneficial to provide a general level of increase in the level of qualification for the workforce—of course that's beneficial, and it's obviously very beneficial if we subsidise it—it's not something that we can continue to do. And now, given the limited resources we have, it's always sensible to make economies, especially in constrained—

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —financial circumstances. That's what's been forced upon us. We would like to be able to continue the level of funding that we provided previously in the training and further education system. We simply cannot afford to do so. It's been a beneficial program in terms of lifting skills, but it's no longer sustainable at that level, so we have to return to pre Skills for All funding levels, but we will continue the reform process. We will have a stripped down and much more nimble and efficient TAFE sector.

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: It will then compete with the private and non-government sector on an equal footing.

Mr Bell: There'll be no private providers.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mount Gambier is a hair's breadth from leaving the chamber.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The simple truth about this is that these are reforms that have been urged upon all states and territories by the commonwealth. It's just that South Australia has got cracking with them sooner than most and—

Ms Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and if those opposite—

Mr Gardner: Have you read the agreement you signed?

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: If those opposite were in government, they would be introducing very similar reforms.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: They would be. Of course—

The SPEAKER: Point of order. Questions can't be hypothetical; answers can be.

Mr GARDNER: No, but the Premier is now sincerely indulging in debate.

The SPEAKER: No, I don't think so. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. These are necessary reforms to our further education and training system. They are directed at ensuring that—

Mr Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —there is a very clear relationship between the provision of training and the gaining of a job, which I would have thought those opposite would welcome. Indeed, if I am not mistaken, those opposite were calling for changes to the training and further education system to that very end. So, we are putting in place sensible reforms off the back of a review of Skills for All, which will create a stronger system.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: But can I say this, Mr Speaker: this is a government that is prepared to face up to the hard questions of reforming our systems of providing—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned for the first time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We are doing this across every service system of government and we will continue to reform the services of government to make sure that taxpayers get value for money but, more importantly, we extract the maximum public value for the services that we provide. This is a reformist government and we will not turn away from reform.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: From Mao Tse-Tung.

The SPEAKER: I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch what the member for Stuart said.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: I said it was probably an idea the Premier might have picked up in China—the Mao Tse-Tung version.

The SPEAKER: So are we thinking of the Cultural Revolution or 'let a thousand flowers bloom'? The leader.