Page 3958 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 25 November 2014
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members and will include expertise or knowledge of industry, business and vocational education. The board will also have members with social policy expertise, financial and governance expertise, and human resources or legal expertise.
The inclusion of two nominees from government directorates also contributes to the balance of the membership, which will assist the board in meeting the CIT’s objectives of operating as a public provider while having the imperative of a flexible business organisation.
I also draw to the attention of members the fact that there will be an elected staff member and a student member appointed to the governing board. This will provide the best avenue to ensure that views about the management of CIT from those who understand its daily operations in a practical sense are conveyed to the whole board.
As we are all aware, the position of CEO is integral to the operations of CIT. Due to the importance of this role, the government considers that it is necessary to have a transitional amendment to ensure, as far as possible, continuity of operations. The bill prescribes that the director, on the day before the legislation commences, becomes the CEO. This will continue until the governing board appoints a CEO within a 12-month period from the day of commencement.
In relation to the fee structure of CIT, it is important and appropriate in establishing a governing board for CIT that the board has the capacity to set fees for the educational products and services that it delivers. To do otherwise would have been far less efficient. Nevertheless, it is important that the minister remains able to have a say in the fees charged for programs that are subsidised by the government.
The changes made by this bill get the balance right by providing for the minister to issue compulsory guidelines to the governing board about fees that CIT may charge for government subsidised training products. What will be made clear through this instrument is that the purpose of CIT is to serve the community, and not to return a profit. However, CIT needs flexibility to ensure the costs of training delivery can be appropriately met once the government subsidy has been taken into account.
It is important to note that fees have already been set for the first semester of next year, and any changes in the next financial year for government subsidised products and services will be broadly consistent with other government price increases.
Finally, there are minor provisions in the bill which seek to update and modernise language in the legislation and to align and simplify legislative drafting.
With regard to the comments made by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety in the scrutiny of this bill, I have written to the chair of the committee addressing the specific concerns raised in relation to proposed section 64 about establishing offences for using or divulging protected information.
Briefly, however, I want to make it clear that subsections 64(3)(c) and 64(5) deal with two different issues. The first provision permits a person to whom the section applies to disclose protected information in a court proceeding, whereas subsection 64(5) is aimed at the issue of whether a person to whom the section applies can be compelled
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