Legislative Council Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2) 53 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time TAFE SA TAFE SA The Hon. S.G. WADE Legislative Council TAFE SA The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:29): I have a supplementary question. I thank the minister for her answer on the number of training places. Unfortunately, my question wasn't about training places—it was about staffing levels. I ask again: given that TAFE has seen almost $70 million in separation packages only to retain the same staffing levels and increased staff costs, has TAFE effectively spent South Australia's federal training grant on staff separation packages? It's got nothing to do with training places. The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council 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 TAFE SA 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) (14:29): It has got to do with training, because they are simply doing more with pretty much the same—so I have answered the question. TAFE has been able to produce considerable efficiencies over the years. It was not all that long ago that we had numerous separate TAFE entities spread all around the state. We consolidated those into three corporate entities and since have consolidated that into one corporate entity and huge efficiencies have been produced from that. As each individual TAFE is no longer required to have its separate HR, its separate IT, etc., huge efficiencies have been made by consolidating those into one single corporate entity. So, with that, considerable efficiencies have been created, and that is one of the reasons TAFE has been able to increase its number of training hours for this year, significantly more training than they did the year previously.