Lot Fourteen

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:17): My question is to the Premier. What can you tell the house about the proposal for a new cooking school at Lot Fourteen, replacing the International College of Hotel Management and Le Cordon Bleu school at TAFE's Regency Park campus now that a high-tech cyber education centre is being considered instead of the new culinary facility?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:17): I thank the member for the question. In the lead-up to the last election, we were very keen to move the culinary school which is down at Regency Park, which has had an excellent reputation over a very long period of time, into the centre of the city. When that facility was created, it was really cutting edge. It now, of course, has many competitors in capital cities right around the world and doesn't, I think, compete favourably with some of the other sites around the world which are closer to accommodation and closer to CBDs.

We therefore prioritised the move into the city. Since that time, with the closure of borders, the viability of this sector has been significantly undermined. The vast majority of the people at some of those colleges were students who came in from overseas, so it has stalled the negotiations with regard to bringing that project forward. Our primary goal as the new government is to get as many people employed as possible and to get as many people trained for future industries as possible at the moment.

Therefore, we have been considering what alternatives there would be that would create jobs and training opportunities a lot faster. We are still very committed to making sure that we can improve the amenity of the various excellent schools which are based at Regency Park, whether that be at Regency Park itself or whether it be on an alternative site. I don't have anything further to update on that at the moment, but I will make inquiries to check on any further developments with regard to this. We are very keen to see Lot Fourteen develop and to develop in a way that will create as many jobs as soon as possible.

You would have heard earlier today the Minister for Innovation and Skills talk about the great demand for cyber jobs right around the world, right around Australia and, of course, here in South Australia. You would have seen yesterday the announcement that Deloitte will be establishing a very much expanded office here in South Australia, and a lot of that is around those digital opportunities, those cyber opportunities.

I think that would be something we are considering to move on much faster ahead of the opportunities around hospitality and culinary excellence, but we still remain committed to making sure that we can offer a quality product here, especially as international students return.