Mount Gambier TAFE

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (15:12): Before I start, 30 years ago this year my wife and I certainly appreciated the work of the midwife for our firstborn after a 36-hour labour. You were there, and you remain there. Thank you very much. Today I want to speak about the situation in Mount Gambier at the Mount Gambier TAFE—which I don't think is isolated. Here is a letter from an employer to me. She wrote to me because I met her, as the Minister for Skills, a number of years ago:

Please find below notification from Tafe regarding the cancellation of the Capstone unit—

this is the final exam for apprentices who are studying to be electricians. The letter continues:

I have spoken with our apprentice this afternoon and he advises there are approximately 20 apprentices that were scheduled for the 25^th March Capstone unit.

This notice from TAFE went out on 21 March, just four days before that test:

Due to unforeseen circumstances we have to postpone the delivery of the unit EL0039 Design, install and verify compliance and functionality of general electrical installations (Capstone) at Mount Gambier campus scheduled (25/3/2024-5/4/2024).

This unit will be rescheduled and a revised call up will be emailed as soon as the new dates are finalised.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

To date, six weeks down the track, there has been no rescheduling. These apprentices are very concerned that they will not get completion, they will not get their licences and they will not be able to be paid as tradespeople after the four years of their apprenticeship. The letter goes on to say:

As mentioned, our apprentices usually take 1-2 weeks of their own leave [off] immediately [before]…the Capstone [test to prepare]—

because it is such an important test. Here we have a situation where they have already foregone one to two weeks of their annual leave to study for this test and then they are told they cannot do it now. TAFE have not even bothered to get back to them to let them know when that test will be available to them in Mount Gambier. The letter goes on:

This issue, together with no programme yet available from Tafe for the remainder of the year is [impeding] on scheduling [for] our interstate work.

This is the employer who pays the staff, these apprentices, who wants to plan their work schedule, who wants to ensure that their apprentices are getting the training that they need outside the workplace, and they cannot do that because next semester's schedule for the students' requirement to be at TAFE has not even been released. It has not even been released and it is only a month or so from the next semester. There is no excuse for this, no excuse whatsoever. The letter goes on:

The person I spoke with from Tafe in Adelaide…not sure where he sits on the totem pole—

obviously she is expressing some frustration there and she hopes that this is enough information to try to get some action by the government on this issue.

There is no doubt that the government has put all its eggs in one basket when it comes to skills training. What was the result of the first 12 months of this government's new policy? In 2019, there were 8,630 commencements in South Australia. That was after the first year of the change of government and changes were starting to happen in the way in which employers are supported with their apprentices.

By 2021, just two years down the track, that figure had reached 14,260 commencements in a single year; so from 8,630 to 14,260. Then the following year, in June 2022, commencements had increased to 20,235. Then, in the first 12 months of the Malinauskas government, commencements for the June quarter were down to 9,595—exactly back to where we were when the Marshall government was elected. All that work was undone. The policy is failing and what we are seeing in Mount Gambier and what we see in the NCVER figures is evidence of that.