Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

STATEMENTS ON REPORTS AND PAPERS
1658 COUNCIL Wednesday, 1 June 2011
In addition to these qualifications, four entities —
Monash Educational Enterprises, Monash South Africa,
Driver Education Centre Australia and DECA — have
received audit opinions that emphasise the reliance of
these entities on the continuing financial support of
their parent entities to continue their operations. There
are a further seven recommendations for improvements
in the reporting performance on the operations of the
universities and TAFEs. The primary recommendation
is that performance reporting in the TAFE sector be
elevated to legislative status. That will augur well for
open and transparent reporting to Parliament.
The Auditor-General has been promoting improved
performance reporting by the TAFE sector for some
time. Whilst TAFE institutes have been complying with
disclosure requests, the Auditor-General now argues we
need to beef it up. The Minister for Higher Education
and Skills, the Honourable Peter Hall, is working with
his office, Skills Victoria and with the sector to identify
a more robust and relevant group of key performance
indicators. Once that is done, he will discuss these
matters with the Department of Treasury and Finance
and the Minister for Finance in order to formalise how
these performance standards will be implemented.
The report makes a range of other recommendations,
which are welcomed. I will comment on two
recommendations. On page 25 of the report the
Auditor-General comments on the huge liability of the
TAFE sector in particular, especially those institutes
that have a substantial number of international students.
In 2010 university fees increased by 62 per cent and
TAFE fees by 118 per cent. There will be a decline, and
that exposes both sectors substantially as a result of the
vagaries of the competitive market for such students. I
am also aware that some of the home countries of our
international students are introducing measures to
respond to their needs for higher education
domestically, and this may also impact on the revenue
we derive from this very important export market. I
urge our institutes to factor that in when they turn to the
issue of securing their financial sustainability into the
future.
The report also makes recommendations about
improving the financial sustainability of the sector, in
particular the way in which TAFEs allocate capital
grants across the sector rather than managing the grants
process to factor in the need for the replacement of
assets and instead of just relying totally on the
government to do so. Some valuable recommendations
have been made by the Auditor-General to improve
what is a very important source of services for our
domestic clients and students as well as for our
international clients. This has become a vigorous sector
that can help to protect the future of the state of
Victoria.
Auditor-General: Early Childhood Development
Services — Access and Quality
Ms MIKAKOS (Northern Metropolitan) — I rise to
speak on the Victorian Auditor-General’s report
entitled Early Childhood Development Services —
Access and Quality, which was tabled in this house on
25 May. The report highlights many of the positive
achievements that were made by the previous Labor
government in early childhood services. Labor has a
proud record of investing in early childhood services,
and it increased funding to those services by 225 per
cent during its term in government.
With Victoria experiencing record-level birth rates —
200 babies born a day — parents have become more
aware of the importance of children’s early years to
their health and development. A lot of that is reflected
in this report. A total of 73 827 babies were notified to
the maternal and child health service in the last
financial year, representing a 22 per cent increase in
birth notices over the last 10 years.
Unfortunately I need to come to this house on a regular
basis to remind the Minister for Children and Early
Childhood Development that she now has an obligation
to Victoria’s children and is responsible for delivering
vital services for Victorian families. During question
time I often hear her absolving herself of that
responsibility and seeking to claim that the federal
government is responsible for her portfolio.
When this report was tabled last week I was quite
astounded that the minister put out a media release in
which she basically pointed the finger at her own
department. She seemed to be talking down her
department, and I found that quite alarming. That media
release also seemed to represent a complete lack of
understanding of the findings of the audit. I am certain
that the media release was not drafted by her
department but that it would have been drafted by her
ministerial office, which would explain why she got it
so wrong.
Victorians can quite rightly have confidence in
kindergarten services in our state. The audit has shown
that statewide participation rates in universal
kindergarten have increased to record levels. There was
a 95 per cent participation rate between 2005–06 and
2009–10, yet despite being well aware of Victoria’s
current baby boom and of the growing demand for
more kindergarten places, the Baillieu government has