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 regarding TAFE.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: On 5 June 2014 the chief executive of TAFE wrote to a TAFE college regarding the commonwealth inquiry into TAFE SA's governance impacting on industrial relations. In his email he says that this would depend a lot on the outcome of the TAFE EB negotiations with the AEU, which were set to start in August. He s Billays that TAFE has 'an ambitious agenda for change to the conditions of service of teaching staff'. He states that at that time they could not compete with the private RTOs with a very low cost base. He says that much will depend on support from the state government in pushing for these reforms, and that the board has full support from that agenda. My question to the minister is: is the government supporting TAFE's ambitious agenda, and has she been briefed on the details of what that ambitious agenda may be?

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. Our whole VET sector has been going through considerable reform and continues on that pathway; TAFE being our largest provider is key to that as well. We have seen changes in relation to TAFE, which was made up of many different separate institutions. It went from many to three and from three to one, and now is an independent statutory authority with its own board.

During that time we have seen, through the national partnership arrangements and other drivers, our VET system go from a system that was basically dominated by one provider to now a much more open marketplace where contestability has been introduced. I do not have the number of providers with me at the moment, but it went from a handful of private providers now to a couple of hundred providers. Those reforms have driven huge efficiencies, really significant efficiencies. South Australia's VET system went from being the most cost inefficient system in the nation to now, where it has been assessed as the most cost effective system in the nation. We continue on those reforms.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Well, the question was around reforms, and I am talking about the reform agenda. Those reform agendas are in place and we continue. We know that one of the key drivers to both past and future reforms has been the increased introduction of information technology and the decreased reliance on face-to-face classroom exchange, not that we are saying that we will ever do away with face-to-face classroom exchange, which is a very important part of learning. However, those learning models have changed and continue to change and I know TAFE is doing a lot of work in that area to look at how it can harness and utilise information technology better to improve access to training. I know, for instance, they are doing quite a bit in that space.

In relation to TAFE's general costs, the cost for TAFE is considerably higher than that for the private sector. There are reasons for that, and TAFE is working very—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: What are the reasons?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I'm happy to talk about that. TAFE is working very hard as part of its reform agendas to bring down those costs so that they are more on par with the private sector. Some of the reasons for those costs are the enterprise bargaining arrangements for TAFE employees. Their conditions and payments are set at a higher rate than that of non-TAFE lecturers, for instance.

There is also the fact that TAFE is our major public provider and it provides the lion's share of training in regions. That training is unlikely to attract very many private sector providers because it is just not financially viable, so TAFE wears the lion's share of that, which means that it also contributes to its increased costs. I know that this government is very committed to continuing its training in regions, and those costs are reflected there and in a number of other key drivers.

Infrastructure creates significant burdens in that sector. We have built many TAFE facilities, and many of them are quite old and need lots of repair and what have you. That is also an issue, whereas the private sector tends to hire and lease space when and where it needs it and not have that same capital infrastructure burden—not that TAFE owns that infrastructure, but it does have cost implications, nevertheless.

In terms of the EB arrangements, like every part of the public sector, there is a process that we go through of enterprise bargaining where negotiations occur and, as it has in the past, that will occur this next round. As I said, there is a clear and open process in place for parties to come to the table and negotiate for the next round of payments and conditions, and I look forward to that next round.