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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-06-02 Daily Xml
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Vocational Education and Training

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills. What does the minister say to up to 1,000 staff in non-government training who will lose their jobs because of the Weatherill Labor government's changes to job training programs?

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) (14:42): I say what absolute hypocrisy coming from the members opposite. What absolute hypocrisy! We see the federal Liberal government refuse to subsidise the private sector here in South Australia—Holden's—to the tune of 1,700 direct jobs being got rid of; 6,000—and this was a direct decision of your mates in Canberra, your Liberal mates in Canberra, so it is okay for your—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, sit down. The minister is answering the question. You might not like the answer, but unfortunately you have to listen to the answer and let it continue. Minister.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Yes, Mr President. It is one rule—

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: Point of order, Mr President: the minister is responding directly to the Liberal opposition and not directing her answer through yourself.

The PRESIDENT: Respond through the Chair, minister.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: As I always do, sir. It is one rule for the Liberals opposite me and another for us, so the Liberal opposition condone their own federal mates for not assisting the private sector here in South Australia, again, to the tune of 1,700 direct jobs—gone or going—and 6,000 jobs in the supply chain, most of which will be gone or affected in a really negative way, and somewhere between—

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Point of order, Mr President: the minister is entirely irrelevant to the question that was asked, and I would ask you to direct her to answer the question rather than something that she wishes to talk about.

The PRESIDENT: It is very hard to hear what she is talking about with the Hon. Mr Stephens going on the way he is. The minister is answering the question the way she sees fit. She is talking about jobs or loss of jobs in South Australia, so there may be some relevance.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: There is relevance, Mr President, and I will draw attention to that relevance. The question that the Hon. Michelle Lensink asked really went to the point of accusing the South Australian government of not being prepared to subsidise private businesses with public money; that was the essence of her question. My response to that is what absolute hypocrisy. The Liberal opposition condones its federal Liberal mates not assisting the private industry here in South Australia. They would not assist Holden to the tune—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Stephens is out of order.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —of 1,700 jobs directly either gone or to go. That is 1,700 jobs, and 6,000 jobs in the supply chain and somewhere between 13,000 and 23,000 jobs indirectly impacted. What absolute hypocrisy.

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