Noarlunga TAFE

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:17): I have a supplementary to the minister based on her answer, and I appreciate the answer. The supplementary question is: given the minister says that TAFE is autonomous and the board is autonomous, does the minister therefore give me permission to write directly to the chief executive officer and, if so, will the minister assure me that the response will come directly back to me from the chief executive officer?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:17): I have already in this place encouraged—not just invited; I have encouraged—the honourable member to raise the operational matters that he persists in bringing into this place and really wasting all of our time. I have encouraged him to raise them, just as I did with the Hon. Stephen Wade today. They are operational questions, and the appropriate organisation to answer them is TAFE SA. I am only repeating myself, because I have already encouraged the Hon. Robert Brokenshire to directly—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: You have never done that.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I have.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: You have never repeated yourself.

The PRESIDENT: No debate across the chamber.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I yet again encourage the honourable member to raise these issues directly with TAFE SA. I am surprised, if he is really genuine in his concerns, that he did not take me up on my original invitation for him to contact TAFE SA. I cannot believe he has sat on his hands for all these months and done nothing, and brought more operational questions back to me. Is he really genuine? Does he really care about what is happening there? One has to question it.

I encourage him yet again to write to the chairman of the board. As I have said before, they are independent of government. Does he think that I can direct the chairman of the board to respond in a particular time frame to him, or anybody for that matter? What a bizarre question! I really think that the honourable member has lost the plot.

The PRESIDENT: I would like to make the point: as frustrating as it is, ministers have the right to answer a question the way they see fit and members have the right to ask the questions they see fit. The Hon. Ms Lee.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: She is a very good member.

The PRESIDENT: She is a great member.