National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:39): Is the South Australian government in breach of the National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform, specifically relating to paragraph 6c, which specifically provides that the government will encourage 'responsiveness in training arrangements by facilitating the operation of a more open and competitive training market'?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:39): Yes, entirely.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order—no, he's warned a first time; I'm sorry.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We're complying with the agreement in its entirety. It's interesting, when Senator Birmingham carried out his interview today and when he was pressed on this point all we had were generalisations. There's been no sense in which he could point to any breach of the agreement because there has been no breach of the agreement. In fact, everything that we're actually doing here—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I think the noise that's emanating from you is clouding your judgement here. I've said we're complying with the agreement. We signed the agreement. We agree with the agreement. We are implementing the agreement. The senator, I think, is struggling to actually explain in words that are able to be understood about where we're in breach of it. In fact, everything that we're doing is directed at the reform agenda the commonwealth is trying to encourage. If other states were actually pursuing the reform agenda with as much vigour as South Australia we would actually be having a stronger reformed TAFE system and further education system in this nation.

So, everything at the heart of the agreement is to have contestability between the private sector and the TAFE sector. We've already seen dramatic changes in the TAFE sector, dramatic changes which have been managed, I think, very carefully and very sensitively by the managers there. We've seen a very substantial reform agenda already been undertaken by a corporatised board in relation to the TAFE sector. There are going to be many more changes that TAFE is going to have to implement. They need a critical mass from which they can actually carry out that transition.

So, this year is going to be a tough year. We fully accept that. It's a tough year for the private providers and TAFE is also going to be making some further announcements about some very significant reforms that will then emerge, but it's all in pursuance of the agreement we reached with the commonwealth and there's no sense in which we're in breach of it.