A paradox in education has been articulated before. When we are young, generally speaking many of us don’t really want to learn at a time when facilities for education are readily available. When we are older and a generally more keen to learn, the demands of life beckon and the facilities and opportunities for education are far more limited. The failure of the South Australian Labor government has compounded the paradox and has failed many who have sacrificed to escape the trap.
The seriousness of the failure of the South Australian Labor Government to safeguard students and prevent reputational damage of the vocational education and training (VET) sector has been highlighted in submissions made to the inquiry. As Business SA stated in the public hearing:
Furthermore, Business SA stated that:
Other industry bodies severely impacted by the mismanagement by the South Australian government have clearly expressed their concern. As the Australian Council for Private Education and Training stated, TAFE SA courses did not meet learning standards and proper monitoring by TAFE SA and the South Australian Government’s Department of State Development should have identified TAFE SA shortcomings and acted on them earlier.
Failure to act by the South Australian Government caused the TAFE SA crisis.
The Labor dominated Senate committee’s handling of this inquiry prevented a thorough hearing to fully examine the matters that led to this inquiry being undertaken. The Australian Government expects that federal funding is used judiciously in delivering quality skills and training. The $1.5 billion Skilling Australians Fund is a major initiative to support VET across Australia. It is vital that Commonwealth funding provided to South Australian Government projects under the Fund delivers high quality training to help students get the skills they need for work, and supports high quality training providers, as TAFE SA must become.
It is incumbent on the South Australian Government to address the crisis in TAFE SA. Ministers are accountable for government departments and agencies under the tradition of the Westminster system. South Australia’s Minister should have resigned given the scale of the issues of non-compliance in 2017 and failings in the VET system in South Australia over recent years. As the Minister has not, members of this committee cannot be assured that the same issues that led to the need for this inquiry will not be revisited.