1.1
On 6 December 2017, the Senate referred the following matter to the Education and Employment References Committee (the committee) for inquiry and report by 28 February 2018:
(a) the failures in TAFE SA that have resulted in suspension of courses, as well as quality issues with the provision of training;
(b) the effective use by the South Australian Labor Government of $771 million provided over six years from the Federal Government to support vocational education and training in South Australia;
(c) the impact of the South Australian Government’s $91 million in funding cuts over five years on students, industry and the broader community;
(d) the role and impact of the scrapped Skills for All policy, and its replacement WorkReady policy;
(e) the impact and frequency of changes made by the South Australian Government to their Training Subsidy List;
(f) the adequacy of the oversight of TAFE SA by its leadership, board and the South Australian Government, as well as national regulatory oversight by the Australian Skills Quality Authority and other agencies; and
(g) any other relevant matters.
1.2
On 28 February 2018 the committee agreed to a short extension until 1 March 2018.
Notice of the inquiry
1.3
Notice of the inquiry was posted on the committee's website. The committee also wrote to key stakeholders to invite submissions.
1.4
The committee received 12 submissions, as detailed at Appendix 1.
1.5
While the inquiry deals with an issue specific to South Australia, due to constraints around committee member availability, it was not possible to hold a public hearing in Adelaide. A public hearing was held in Sydney on 2 February 2018. A list of witnesses who gave evidence at the public hearing is contained in Appendix 2.
Acknowledgment
1.6
The committee thanks those individuals and organisations who contributed to this inquiry by preparing written submissions and giving evidence at the public hearing.
Notes on references
1.7
References in this report to the Hansard for the public hearing are to the proof Hansard. Page numbers may vary between the proof and official Hansard transcripts.