The Weatherill Government must rule out the payment of a bonus to the TAFE SA CEO, with the training of 2,500 students jeopardised by the problems facing TAFE’s accreditation.
Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (10:40): I am very pleased to be able to rise today to speak on the Road Traffic (Helmets) Amendment Bill that the member for Schubert has brought forward as the shadow minister for road safety. When a member of the community comes to a member of parliament saying that something the government has done has affected them and impacted on their lives—they have been charged with or fined for an offence—you have to look at the situation presented to you and ask yourself, 'If this was happening down at the pub, would people believe me?' When the member for Schubert was confronted with this situation—that is, people being fined for having a camera on their helmet—I imagine something like that went through his mind.
Weatherill Government Minister for Higher Education and Skills Susan Close has many questions to answer surrounding her handling of the TAFE accreditation imbroglio.
Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:17): Today, I would like to inform the house about a petition that is circulating in relation to a very important issue for the community that I have the honour of serving, the Morialta district. In particular, it relates to the government's provision of a new nature play space at the picnic area at the Morialta Conservation Park.
Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (12:01): The Education and Children's Services Bill 2017 represents, in the minister's words, 'the most significant reform of education in 40 years'. Not everyone agrees with that. Can I say that there is quite a substantial history to this bill, which I will touch on for a little while. I will talk about some of the things we support and some of the things we might be moving some amendments to, and there are some things we have some questions about. Given that it is in fact a rewrite of the Education Act and the Children's Services Act, it does traverse some territory, combining both those acts into a new act.
Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (18:41): I indicate that I am not the lead speaker for the opposition on this important bill, but I am pleased to join the debate at a time when I have the opportunity to debate against the points made by the member for Fisher, the parliamentary secretary, who has just provided what I would characterise as a 'both ways' contribution: she wants to have it both ways. She is in favour of medicinal cannabis and, in fact, she said she is in favour of the use of medicinal cannabis being allowed on the roads, but not now.
Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (11:05): It gives me great pleasure to support this motion and indicate that the opposition supports this motion. I am very pleased that the government has moved a long way in the six years since I brought legislation to this house requiring that the Joint Parliamentary Service Committee make available video recordings, directly streamed through the internet, to the people of South Australia so that they can see what goes on in this parliament, in this building, and so that they can see the laws that affect their lives being made. It is, in fact, a principle that the people of Yemen had access to the audio streaming of their parliament—let's call it a parliament—before the South Australian people did. When that was turned on about five or six years ago, we were very pleased that we were able to catch up to Yemen in regard to this important democratic principle.
The State Liberals are calling on the Minister for Education Susan Close to ensure the assessment of South Australia’s child care centres is lifted to at least the national average in the shortest possible time.
Discussion in the State Parliament since the last edition of Morialta Matters has been dominated by the State Budget, and in particular the Weatherill Government’s attempts to introduce a new State Bank Tax.
Today’s disappointing NAPLAN results reveal a decade of declining performance under the Weatherill Labor Government, according to the State Liberals.
