Page 1109 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2015
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Industry continues to express its confidence in CIT, with high overall employer satisfaction rates with training. Employer feedback highlights that training provided by CIT supports students to develop the industry and work-related skills and knowledge required across this community. Partnerships with industries are fostered and cultivated across areas through advisory meeting groups, networking events and partnership forums. I have spoken before in this place about the changes to the CIT governance model. They will allow CIT to build on these strengths and to use them as competitive assets in a changing training environment.
Mr Rattenbury touched on what is happening in other states under Liberal governments that are moving away from the public provision of TAFE. We need to ensure that our public provider—CIT is a public provider—is supported, but also that it is given the mechanisms to ensure that it can be a true competitor in the market.
We have given CIT the governance structures that will allow it to thrive in the face of these challenges and demonstrate its many strengths in the competitive environment. This will also ensure that the ACT government gets the best value for its public expenditure, which is the right thing to do. Using public resources to fund education provides the building blocks for a fairer society. This is why the provision of the highest quality public education at primary, secondary and post-secondary levels, including TAFE, is essential for our future.
CIT and other TAFE institutions support individuals to increase job and career opportunities. However, they go beyond just that as an objective. They support the community as a whole, enabling all individuals, whether working or not, to engage in lifelong learning and assist the more marginalised individuals in our communities to overcome disadvantage. The ACT’s economy derives a benefit—a direct benefit, as the Chief Minister has outlined—from the activities of CIT.
To achieve optimal outcomes here in the ACT, the government put forward amendments to the CIT act last year. They included the establishment of a governing board to replace the existing advisory council; the appointment of an independent chair and deputy chair; the establishment of the role of chief executive officer, who is appointed by the governing board, to replace the existing director of the institute; and the governance board becoming responsible for fee setting in line with guidelines set by the minister.
These new arrangements will give CIT a better governance structure to allow it to thrive in the new competitive student-centred market. They will also allow CIT to respond effectively to the needs of the economy and provide the ACT’s economy with the skills it needs to grow.
I look forward to working with the new board. I am confident that the board, along with the provisions in the Canberra Institute of Technology Amendment Act 2014, position CIT to maintain its absolutely leading position in our public TAFE and vocational education more broadly here in the ACT. I commend this motion and I thank Ms Porter for bringing it to the house.
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