Riverland Cabinet

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:55): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills a question about community cabinet.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: As members would be aware, the minister has always taken a keen interest in regional locations. Will the minister update the chamber about her recent trip to the Riverland as part of community cabinet?

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) (14:55): I thank the honourable member for his most important question and his ongoing interest in regional South Australia. I know that he spends a great deal of time out there in the regions as well. From 22 June to 24 June 2014 I was fortunate enough to spend time in the Riverland as part of this government's country cabinet. It was great to spend time in such a beautiful area of the state and spend time meeting and talking to South Australians from that region who welcomed this government spending time in their region.

Initiatives such as the country cabinet demonstrate that this government is committed to its regions and to addressing the issues that regional South Australians face. The Premier and I met with the Riverland Industry Leaders Group. This group contains representatives from the wine, citrus, almond, education and manufacturing sectors. The Riverland Industry Leaders Group was established by the Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology to be the conduit between the region and government. This provides the government with a valuable mechanism to identifying an informed government on specific regional skills and employment opportunities.

This was a highly productive discussion about how to best address training and employment issues which face the Riverland area. It was pleasing to hear that this group is considering initiatives to encourage future university graduates to work in the Riverland's major industries as a long-term strategy to ensure young tertiary graduates are exposed to opportunities in the region and therefore may pursue employment in the area. In line with the region's industry base, the industry leaders group is also identifying a range of employment opportunities and workforce planning and development issues associated with labour requirements in the horticulture/agriculture sector.

I then visited the McCormick Centre for the Environment, located in Renmark. This centre aims to offer the state-of-the-art accredited education packages and hands-on educational experience tailored to the needs of individual learner groups. Objectives of the centre include improving the status of science, horticulture and agriculture education; inspiring people to connect with food; build healthy communities; protect our resource base; and build links with the land. It was great to be able to meet with staff and students of the centre and sample some delicious bush tucker, inspired by one of the students there who is a food producer and who has established a catering business from qualifications she was able to gain through the centre.

Following this visit, I travelled to the Murraylands Domestic Violence Service. This service provides support to women living in the Riverland, Adelaide Hills, Murray Bridge and Coorong areas of South Australia who are affected by domestic violence. The Family Safety Framework was established in the Murray Mallee region in 2011, and family safety meetings are held fortnightly in Berri and Murray Bridge. It was very beneficial being able to talk to staff and volunteers as well at the service about the challenges they face addressing domestic violence issues.

During the trip I was fortunate enough to tour the Berri commercial cooking training centre at the Riverland Trade Training Centre. The Berri commercial cookery training centre is a very strong, industry-focused training model which sees a partnership between the commercial cookery program and Riverland high schools and it has been highly successful. The Riverland Trade Training Centre is another partnership between a consortium of Riverland schools working in partnership with TAFE SA and is part of the centre. The manufacturing, engineering and transport workshop provides training for approximately 70 Riverland school students each year. This then of course leads to better training applicants.

While it was very pleasing to visit training facilities and meet with local industry leaders, I was constantly reminded of how bad the proposed cuts to the VET sector by the federal Liberal government are. They are also set on ripping money out of young apprentices through cuts to their Tools for Your Trade program and for some this would have been around $5,500 over the time of their apprenticeship, for others a bit less and for some a bit more.

I have had letters of inquiry from very concerned parents and young tradies themselves concerned that the payment that they have been expecting from the federal government now will not come. They have bought their tools so they can learn their trade and now of course they will not get their last payment. One young man was around $1,500 out of pocket—so unbelievably unfair and unjustifiable—and, although a loan system has been put in place, as one young apprentice said, 'I already have a loan, I already have a mortgage. I've had to take out a loan to provide for my car so that I can get to work locations.' He said that this would mean more debt—a lifetime of debt looking at his future.

I am very pleased that our state Labor government's budget is not abandoning skills training. The budget recently released allocates an additional $66.7 million for more training in other areas leading to jobs.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: It is nice to see the Hon. Robert Brokenshire in the chamber this afternoon. In terms of my visit to the Riverland, all the people whom I met and spoke with during my time in the Riverland were very appreciative of the time and effort that went into having ministers attend country cabinet. I was able to have many productive discussions on issues that concern regional South Australians, and I look forward to the next country cabinet taking me out to other regions.