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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-06-02 Daily Xml
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National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform

The Hon. S.G. WADE (15:13): Senator Birmingham has claimed that the minister has written to him and said that the government will be in compliance again by 2019. Does the minister consider that a three to four-year failure to meet the openness and competitiveness commitments is in fact a non breach?

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) (15:13): It's just gobsmacking. My letter to Senator Birmingham made it absolutely, categorically clear that the South Australian government has met and fully complied with the national partnership agreement—all aspects of it; it's quite a complex thing. We have met all of the milestones and exceeded most of them. I absolutely categorically stated in that—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —categorically stated in that—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: It is very rude of members to sit there and mock and make fun of a person when they are speaking, and I don't want to hear any more from opposition members. Minister.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: My correspondence clearly outlined that we have met and complied with the partnership agreement and that WorkReady continues to comply with those partnership agreements. The correspondence has made that perfectly clear. We have in the past, and what we plan to do is still in compliance, and that is what was in my correspondence. As I said, it not only meets the openness and competitive part of the requirement, but it meets all compliance requirements.

Under WorkReady for 2015-16, the contestable component continues to remain at 25 per cent—25 per cent of our training activity remains contestable. That's more than most other jurisdictions have reached at all, and that's at one of our lower points. So, what does it mean when the federal government is prepared to renege on a deal in a dishonest way—renege on a deal—and what does it mean to all of those other jurisdictions who haven't done anywhere near as well as us? We are still leading; even at 25 per cent we are still way ahead. So what Senator Birmingham is doing is an absolute disgrace, holding our training sector to ransom, and he is prepared to do that for a little bit of political fun. It is a disgrace.

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