Page 3548 - Week 13 - Thursday, 26 November 1992
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There is another drawback with changing the name, and that is that it can sometimes discourage some students, students that we desperately wish to encourage to go on to advance their skills base and to make themselves more adaptable in the changing job market. It might discourage those students from believing that they have a place in this institution. A humble carpenter or plumber or mechanic, or potential carpenter or plumber or mechanic, might feel out of place in an institution with the grand title of an institute of technology. Nonetheless, I believe that we should embark on this exercise and we should see whether this serves the interests of the ACT. If it achieves a higher profile in the market, it may well be a major development for the ACT's educational capacity, particularly in the international scene, and make the ACT a much more desirable destination for those overseas students who are, admittedly, very lucrative for the ACT economy. I remember reading, when I was Minister, that the average Japanese student living in the ACT produced several hundred times more revenue for the ACT than a single Japanese tourist. So, that sort of observation, I think, is not lost in this debate.
I have one last comment, Madam Speaker. The council of the institute is to be expanded to provide for more technical expertise and a wider range of community input into the work of the institute. That is very desirable. But I have to use this opportunity to say that I sincerely hope that the full complement of the council is achieved by the Government as quickly as possible, and certainly in a considerably shorter timeframe than we have seen in the case of either the Council of the Australian National University or the University of Canberra, both of which bodies, I understand, are still waiting for government appointments.
MR WOOD (Minister for Education and Training, Minister for the Arts and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (4.25), in reply: Madam Speaker, I thank members for their contributions. Starting with Mr Cornwell, I thank the very stiff and upright member for his comment, and I hope that his neck improves to the stage where his head will be less immobile. He is correct in saying - I think Mr Humphries should take note of this - that the institute has outgrown its name. I think Mr Humphries's view is typically conservative. I have to say to him that the world does change. Roles and functions and the whole course of things change.
Mr Humphries: Does it have to change? That is the question.
MR WOOD: I am afraid it does, Mr Humphries. I think that is the clear demarcation between you and me. We acknowledge that change does occur, and the name change in this case recognises, as Mr Cornwell indicated, the changing role of TAFE. I want to make it clear to members in the Assembly that, while it recognises the increasing scope of what is still TAFE, there is absolutely no intention to leave behind its attention to those very important basic trade and technical skills. The new CIT will carry on very emphatically the role that it has done so well for so long.
I was not quite as appreciative of Mr Cornwell's comments about appointments to the enlarged CIT council. I have occasion to make many appointments to boards. In the last year I have announced two new councils - the Cultural Council and the new Environmental Advisory Council. I have made a large number of appointments to existing boards.
Mr Cornwell: Schools council.
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