Page 428 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 June 1989
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The old Act reflects a system which is in need of some overhaul, and the new system which is underpinned by this Bill is certainly more flexible than the old Act, and we applaud that. But of course this is not an entirely novel approach. It is a reflection of the approach which has been taken in other States and also of course reflects a practice which has now been in force in this Territory I understand for some 18 months, since the beginning of last year. The system that this Bill seeks to legitimise has been in place now for some time and has been shown to work. It is now merely formalised in this Bill.
From what I have said, Mr Speaker, it will be obvious that the Opposition intends to support this Bill, but we have some reservations, and I will come to those in a moment. The Bill establishes the Vocational Training Authority, an authority consisting of 10 members. The powers or the functions given to the authority are quite broad. Clause 8 of the Bill sets out the range of functions for which the new authority is to have responsibility. As members can see, they are very wide. They cover such things as responsibility for planning and supervision of training in the Territory, training arrangements, the establishment of contracts and the terms of such contracts between employer and employee for training, the conduct of inquiries into specific questions relating to training in the Territory, and the promotion. I quote from paragraph (h) of subclause (8)(1). It says "to promote equity in access to training opportunities". I will come back to that in a moment.
It also provides for the authority to give advice to the Minister and also for the establishment of training advisory committees to deal with particular problems in particular areas. It goes without saying, I think, that much of what the authority does in that regard depends to some extent on the quality of those who are appointed to the authority. It has a very broad brief to supervise all aspects virtually of training in the Territory. I hope that the Government makes appointments to that permanent authority which reflect the need for that very broad overview and that the appointments therefore are in the nature more of technical expertise than of any other criterion.
As I have said, the authority consists of 10 members, of whom three are appointed by the Trades and Labour Council, three by employers, three by government and one is the ex officio appointment of the Director of TAFE. I note with some interest that the Trades and Labour Council of the Territory enjoys the privilege of appointing three persons to this authority, whereas employers are represented by three persons appointed by the Minister. I wonder whether there are not suitable bodies which could have the privilege, as the TLC has the privilege, of appointing members to this authority. I suppose it would be interesting to note how many workers of the Territory belong to unions which are affiliated with the Trades and
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