Page 3186 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 August 2013
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I trust that the CIT responds to these recommendations, because this is not an issue that will go away. There are angry parents and students who are facing difficult financial decisions in deciding what career path they should follow. They have come to see us. I am sure they have come to see you as well, Ms Burch, but I am not sure what advice you have given them to date.
If CIT has not worked out their communications strategy and financial modelling accurately, they may face difficult years and declining enrolments. Then it may become harder for the Liberal opposition to defend CIT’s continued existence as an entity separate from the University of Canberra, as we did previously. We need a strong and viable TAFE entity in Canberra, but it must be one that is clearly focused on achieving high quality, affordable educational outcomes for Canberra students at its core.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (8.15): I rise tonight to reiterate another one of our 575 recommendations from the dissenting report, that being recommendation No 372. Madam Speaker, on 24 June the committee heard from CIT. In particular, I would like to talk about electric vehicle training that CIT is doing and refer to the transcript and the witness statements that we received. CIT here in the ACT has taken up the work for the whole of Nissan Australia. All of the training for Nissan Australia on their electric vehicles is now being done in the ACT. We see technicians coming from right across Australia being flown into the ACT for electric vehicle training. They go back to their workshops after receiving that training.
We heard from Minister Burch, of course, and from Ms Dodd from CIT. Ms Dodd spoke about a recent visit to China. They have worked with the Chinese government on the opportunity to pick up electric vehicle training for China right here in the ACT. She also talked about working with Toyota. Of course, the Japanese firm Toyota has companies worldwide. She spoke about the work that CIT have been doing with Toyota in the Philippines. They are hoping to pick up work that will operate either in the Philippines or here in the ACT, but no doubt it will be related to the work at CIT.
Also, we heard about the work that CIT has been doing to assist businesses in the ACT with regard to the national workforce development fund and securing funding from the federal government for those businesses to bring their technicians at certificate level III level up to certificate IV level. This allows technicians to reach a competency that gives them the opportunity to supervise new trainees in their workshops. Once again, well done to CIT automotive.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (8.17): I am pleased to stand to speak on the budget allocation to the Canberra Institute of Technology. CIT is the largest RTO and public provider of vocational education and training in the ACT and region. It offers over 400 courses ranging from certificates, traineeships and apprenticeships through to diplomas and degrees. In 2012, CIT trained over 21,000 students and delivered 6.5 million training hours.
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