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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4342 ..

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Training) (4.33), in reply: I thank members for their support. I think both of these Bills, the Hotel School Bill and the Canberra Institute of Technology (Amendment) Bill, are important pieces of legislation. The Hotel School Bill is the first step towards implementing the findings of the Auditor-General's report which was requested by this Government in March this year. The CIT (Amendment) Bill removes all reference to the AIHS from the CIT Act of 1987. The Government is acting quickly to assure the students and staff of the hotel school, and the taxpayers of the ACT, that it is determined to establish the school as a viable institution.

This Government is committed to addressing the mistakes made by the previous Government in relation to the establishment of the hotel school. The Auditor-General's report makes it clear that enrolment projections for the school have been overly optimistic. The report found that the school's financial arrangements and operational structures needed urgent review if the ACT taxpayer was not to throw good money after bad in the continued operations of the school. The legislation before you today, consistent with the Auditor-General's findings, separates the hotel school from the CIT and establishes it under its own Act as a statutory corporation. The intention of the Bill is to improve efficiency in the management of the school, and separation from the CIT is a necessary first step. The Bill also provides for greater financial accountability and more appropriate management arrangements.

Mr Speaker, this Bill gives effect to the findings of the Auditor-General that the hotel school should be separated from the CIT and established under its own Act, and that the financial and management arrangements of the school should be made more accountable and transparent. The overall intention of the Hotel School Bill is to improve management efficiency, and the CIT (Amendment) Bill amends the principal Act to remove all references to the hotel school. We owe it to the taxpayers of the ACT and the students and staff of the hotel school to move quickly to improve the efficiency of the school and to establish it as a viable institution for the delivery of high-quality training in the Territory. I would commend both Bills to the Assembly.

I have had consultations with Mr Berry in relation to his proposed amendment. That is accepted by the Government. In relation to that, I should point out that already there are, I think, two people with that relevant expertise on the board, including a representative from Cornell. That amendment is fairly important, and obviously would occur as well, when you look at our attempts to also affiliate with an Australian university. If and when that occurs, Mr Speaker, obviously an appropriate board member might well be from that affiliated university. It is, accordingly, an appropriate amendment and we are happy to support it. I thank members, once again, for their support for these two very important pieces of legislation.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

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