TAFE SA

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:28): Further supplementary, if I may, Mr President: can the minister confirm that TAFE fees are directly related to the Skills for All subsidy that you, as minister, provide to the department?

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) (14:28): Mr President, the Hon. David Ridgway purports to have, at least in the past, some business acumen. Well, he is failing to demonstrate it in this place at all. I mean, it was one of the silliest questions I have ever heard. He knows only too well—or perhaps he has forgotten—that prices, in terms of the way businesses operate, are determined by a wide range of different things. They are related—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: Directly related to the Skills for All subsidy that you provide.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: He is just being silly. He is being totally silly; he knows they are related to the inputs that come in, and the cost of outputs and demand. So, he knows—or he could guess, surely, if he does purport to have some business acumen—that it would be a range of factors that would be affecting the final outcome of those particular fees that are set. But again, if he wants details in terms of how TAFE calculates these things and with what weightings, then he should get off his lazy tail and pick up his phone, or get on his computer, and ask for information from the appropriate body, and that is TAFE SA. I encourage him and invite him to contact the board.