Page 1404 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 2012
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I am again disappointed that the ACT government appears to be unaware of the potential negative impacts for the territory if this major structural change is not handled well and does not have the proper scrutiny to go along with it. It is for these reasons and more that I today call on the ACT government to inject some transparency and openness into this whole matter. We are dealing with the careers and workplaces of many. We are dealing with the learning goals and aspirations of many Canberrans and also of those interstate and overseas as well as the reputation of our city as a place where they can come and get a world-class education. Many people come to the ACT to get an associate diploma and advanced diploma, many of the qualifications that are provided by both the University of Canberra with their degree courses and also the CIT.
As I said, we had this debate last year when Mr Doszpot brought it in to say we should have a referral to the Standing Committee on Education, Training and Youth Affairs. As I have already noted earlier in my speech, there was an expectation that this would have all been revealed and information put out there publicly by the end of last year. I gave some time to the government, and as soon as everybody was back from the summer break I requested a briefing. As I said, it was very disappointing that all that could be pointed to was a media release the government had put out at the end of the previous year. I had expected we would have more information to work from.
I am becoming increasingly concerned about the impact, as I said, this is having particularly on the workforces but also on the institutions themselves. We have to remember that this process, in a sense, has been going on for more than 15 months when there was a decision to look at how the University of Canberra and the CIT could investigate ways to collaborate. We then had the Bradley review. We then had this working party going off to look at the various recommendations she put forward to see where it might proceed.
During all this time, yes, there have been some consultations and engagement with those who will be impacted—the students and those who work at these institutions. But it has been a time when it is a little bit hard to get any planning done, when there is no certainty in this space. We need to provide that certainty, and the first step for that is actually getting the information out into the public arena on what it is we are actually talking about here. Nobody seems to know, and I am concerned that not even the ACT government knows. That is why I have put a date on this. I have said we need to put it out there. My understanding is that there are some negotiations with the commonwealth. Well, we need to get a move on.
I also have some queries about what we are talking about with this model in regard to governance. It appears as though money has been granted to the University of Canberra, so does that mean that we are going to have a truly equal sort of partnership, or this is actually a model where the University of Canberra is the lead agency, if you like, and the CIT has a lesser or secondary role? These are really critical questions and issues. The representations from stakeholders—individuals but also the unions and other stakeholders—are becoming more and more frequent and they are becoming more and more concerned.
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