Vocational Education and Training

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): My question is to the Premier. How many fewer subsidised training places will be available in regional South Australia following the changes to vocational training funding announced by the government two weeks ago?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:17): The point of retaining a strong role for TAFE is so that we can increase access for—

Mr Pederick interjecting:

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

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: For those opposite, just to remind them what's in the interest of their country constituencies, TAFE actually is one of the most important regional providers of training services in this state, so it follows a strong TAFE is good for country regions. It's the reason we wanted to make sure that TAFE had its focus on quality, on accessibility, and in particular on matching real jobs with their training.

We cannot afford to train just generally and hope that people find jobs. We now have to take a much more targeted approach. In a post Skills for All era, where there are fewer resources, we need to target those resources more carefully, but the truth is, both in terms of the number of hours and the amount of money that's spent, there is more money that is being spent in training and higher education services through our vocational education system now than there was in the pre Skills for All environment.

Members interjecting: