Page 366 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 1991
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TAFE Courses
MR WOOD: I direct a question to the Chief Minister, as Minister responsible for TAFE in the ACT. Chief Minister, will you guarantee that all students who are already halfway through a TAFE course, who were doing a TAFE course last year, and the year before perhaps, will be able to continue that course this year; and that no courses will be cancelled, leaving students stranded halfway through a course?
MR KAINE: Mr Wood and other members of the Opposition are dead keen on getting cast-iron guarantees about everything, Mr Speaker. The answer is no, of course, I will not, because, without discussing the matter with the management of TAFE and without knowing the disposition of the resources that it has, it would be impossible for me to give that sort of a cast-iron guarantee.
I presume that the underlying point behind Mr Wood's question is that he thinks that once a person has started a course they should be provided with the resources to finish it. I would agree with that. Yes, I would agree with that, as a matter of principle. But I would suggest that Mr Wood go and review what happens at other institutions of higher learning, where in any one semester desired courses are not always available. In my lifetime of study I have had in some cases to wait from one year to the next until courses were offered, because they were offered only in alternate years in the universities.
So, the suggestion behind Mr Wood's question, that this community should make unlimited resources available to ensure that no student is ever inconvenienced, is, of course, a nonsense; and Mr Wood knows that.
Mr Wood: No, I am not asking for unlimited resources.
MR KAINE: You were asking me to give you a cast-iron guarantee about that, and the answer is that you would not give such a guarantee if you were sitting here.
Mr Wood: I do not want unlimited courses. I want secure courses.
MR KAINE: I am not entering into a debate with him, Mr Speaker. He asked me a question which I am trying to answer. I am trying to answer his question. If he were here he would not give such a guarantee, and I do not intend to give such a guarantee; but I accept the general premise behind the question. To the extent that it is possible to ensure that no student is so disadvantaged, the Government will make sure that that is done; but I cannot give you a cast-iron guarantee of the kind that you are asking for.
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