Page 2544 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 11 August 2015
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The government needs to do better than to have officials come to estimates with some vague time lines. It is not the officials’ fault. Minister Burch was quite immodest in suggesting her announcement about a new CIT at Tuggeranong. I believe she called it a “grand announcement”. But rather than gloating about announcements, how about giving families some real news, Ms Burch? It might be more useful if we now had a grander action plan.
The election promise had the commitment as being a new build, with construction to start in the 2013-14 financial year. We now see that the promise of a new build has slowly morphed into a lease of an existing building or presumably a set of buildings. But there is still no formal announcement, with leaseholders and others in the area speculating on all sorts of options. Government by rumour and news release is becoming a standard for this government, very unfortunately.
The new facility at Tuggeranong was a 2012 election promise. In this Greens-leaning government, are we recycling election promises as well? Will Tuggeranong CIT be a 2016 election promise? And as to what will be taught there, that is also still in the planning stage. But we do know that 330 students will be going there. We do not know for what courses and how many teachers they will have, but apparently a high percentage of them will be “tech savvy”, in Ms Burch’s words. Oh, and they will fit into 1,665 square metres; we do know that.
During estimates we heard a lot of appropriate organisational speak—mention of “distinct client groups”, of attracting professionals wanting to “upskill”, “to obtain full qualification” or just “skill sets”. We had some vague examples like workplace health and safety and “pathways for students”. You would not want to be a year 10 or year 12 student trying to plan next year’s study unless you put into the equation several locations and even more possible course options.
In respect of Woden, we know there are plans to downsize it. We do not know the number of staff or students, how many will be affected and when. We were told that staff forums have been held and apparently individual conversations at departmental level have been started. Again there has been no detail. Dr Stenlake told the committee:
At the moment they—
the conversations—
are fairly broad, but ultimately they will go into the detail of where people are going and what facilities will be available for themselves …
And for students. In other words no-one really knows much—or at least those that should know do not. Staff and students might be going to Tuggeranong, Bruce, Reid or even staying at Woden but in another place.
CIT plays an important role in Canberra. It is our leading TAFE provider and employers rely on CIT for their apprentices, for their trained workforce across a great
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