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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-09-08 Daily Xml
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Riverland Career Development Centre

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:23): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment, Higher—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Lee had the floor.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The honourable minister—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The honourable minister should know better. I can understand the opposition leader misbehaving, but I don't understand the minister. The Hon. Mr Ridgway, your own member, the Hon. Ms Lee—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!—had the floor. Give Ms Lee the respect that she deserves in asking her question. The Hon. Ms Lee.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Thank you so much for your protection, sir. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills a question about the Riverland Career Development Centre.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: The training courses under the Riverland Career Development Centre are currently funded under WorkReady and Jobs First, despite the website still promoting the abolished Skills for All program. It has been brought to the opposition's attention that, through the Riverland Career Development Centre, there are a number of individuals in the regions who are accepting SA funding from the WorkReady program and then also accessing Victoria's subsidised training program to complete their studies, namely, within the heavy vehicle industry or forklift licensing. My questions are:

1. Can the minister advise how much funding is provided for the training courses at the Riverland Career Development Centre?

2. What measures are in place to ensure that any money provided to upskill people through state government-funded training is completed in South Australia and not interstate?

3. Can the minister advise how she will monitor the number of people who have accepted South Australian government funding to undertake training for a licence but who have then travelled interstate to access a further subsidised training course?

4. With workers seeking training programs interstate, can the minister advise how this will improve training completions and employment opportunities in South Australia?

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) (15:26): I thank the honourable member for her question. Training providers can potentially access funds from potentially anywhere in the state. A number of South Australian training operators—those that are near borders—provide training to both the state they operate in as well as to people across the border, and there is a wide range of funding arrangements to provide for that. If you live closer to a regional centre that might be across the border and if it is easier for you to train there, then it can be sensible that people do so, so a high level of flexibility is allowed.

However, South Australian subsidised funding is allocated for South Australian training needs, and we have a very rigorous monitoring system that describes the particular allocation for subsidised training and the amount of training. Training providers are required to keep very accurate records and to report back to ensure they are spending that money as their contract requires them to.

That does not stop a training provider in the Riverland or another location, for instance, from applying to another state government for subsidised training or training grants to assist them in providing training for interstate students. You would need to approach each individual training provider to determine what those arrangements are, because they are a matter for business for that particular training provider. As I said, there is a wide range of different systems in place.

I can assure the honourable member that there needs to be a high level of flexibility around borders so that we are functioning in a sensible way. For instance, I know that South Australia provides some of its training interstate for highly specialised areas where there are no training providers here; we relocate our students to other states and provide funding to those interstate training providers to train our students.

As I said, that is a sensible and reasonable thing to do if we are not able to provide that highly specialised training that requires high levels of infrastructure, specialist equipment and labs and suchlike. But I can assure the honourable member that the training contracts are very detailed and we monitor them very carefully. Our subsidised training funds are targeted at providing skills for South Australian residents, and we have a reporting system that ensures that that occurs.

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