Question Time

TAFE SA

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills a question about TAFE.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: We have been well aware of real concerns that have been raised by private training providers on the withdrawal of support for their operations. Often when we ask questions of the minister she refers to them as being operational matters and suggests that we should seek a briefing from TAFE or speak to the TAFE chief executive. She says that TAFE is run by a board and that perhaps we could even contact the board. The opposition has been reliably informed that the chairman of the board, Mr Peter Vaughan, has been described as somewhat missing in action during this last debacle in relation to the withdrawal of funding for private training providers. My question to the minister is: can she advise the house of the whereabouts of the chair of the board, Mr Peter Vaughan?

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) (14:21): I thank the honourable member for his question. He comes into this place with incorrect information. He refers to—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Let the minister answer the question; you might find out where he is.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Yes, well, they do not like to listen to real facts and figures. In his opening statements he suggested that we have withdrawn training support from rural regions here in South Australia, and that is just not true; it is simply not true. In fact, we have increased the subsidised training activity to 81,000 subsidised places for 2015-16, and that is an increase from about 80,000 this year. So, again, we see another example of the Hon. David Ridgway coming into this place with inaccurate information.

In relation to the chair, Mr Peter Vaughan, I suggest that the honourable member historically has been incredibly lazy and inactive in this place, and I would be saying to him that I have no problems at all accessing Mr Peter Vaughan. He is incredibly diligent and regularly makes himself available. I suggest that the honourable member get off his lazy tail and either make a phone call, write a letter or request a meeting, if that is what he wants. But, as usual, we see that the honourable member is simply too lazy to do that himself, and he comes into this place with his bombastic attitudes.