TAFE SA

The Hon. S.G. WADE (15:04): I have a supplementary question. In the minister's original answers, she suggested that there had been a reduction in staff in TAFE in recent years. Could she quantify that?

The Hon. G.E. Gago interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The information I have—

The Hon. G.E. Gago: It is on the record.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The information I have is that in 2012-13 there were 2,298 TAFE staff, in 2014-15 there were 2,300. It is, I appreciate, a miniscule increase, but it is an increase, not a decrease. The minister asserts a decrease. Could she give us the facts to justify that?

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) (15:05): Your colleague Mr Pisoni has been carting this figure out. It is a couple of hundred. I do not know whether my trusty advisers can find this, because it is so long ago that this was out there in the public arena.

Again, I am just trying to put my finger on it. I will put my finger on these figures. I just can't put my finger on the actual figure, but it is a couple of hundred or so that have declined just in the last 12 months or so. The honourable member is completely ill informed and there have been significant reductions.

That has been trending over the last number of years for the reasons I have outlined, because of those structural changes to TAFE and its corporate entity and the way it has been able to streamline, particularly its administrative functions, to improve efficiencies. Unfortunately, that has resulted in a significant drop in FTEs employed by TAFE.