TAFE SA spent $65m on deep redundancies over five years, sparking warning of inevitable training crisis
TAFE SA spent $65 million in the past five years on golden handshakes to slash almost 600 staff, a move its former boss says led to many of its most talented being shown the door.
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TAFE SA spent $65 million in the past five years on golden handshakes to slash almost 600 staff, a move its former boss says led to many of its most talented being shown the door.
The Auditor-General has revealed 583 TAFE staff have received targeted voluntary separation packages, since 2012-13.
It includes $3.9 million in redundancy payouts last year offered as part of a long-term cost-cutting scheme intended to reform the state training provider.
Figures released by TAFE, on request from The Advertiser, show the total number of its employees has fallen from 2822 to 2134, a 24 per cent reduction, over the past five years.
Former Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology Department boss Greg Black said it was inevitable such huge cuts would ultimately lead to a collapse in the quality of courses offered by the agency, which was worsened by redundancy payouts.
“What happens when it’s voluntary is two things. One is that people who desperately want to go, because they are near retirement or disgruntled, do. That’s fine,” Mr Black said.
“The other is that some of the very best people, who you don’t want to lose, go.
“They go because they are the ones most likely to get a job somewhere else.
“You’ve got a situation now where you have got a real problem now with too many people in some parts of the organisation with certain skill sets and not enough in others, as a result of spending a huge amount of money. From a public policy perspective, it’s very hard to justify.
“Blind Freddy can see that they have clearly lost the plot in terms of compliance.”
The organisation was plunged into crisis last month when a scathing report from the national regulator found major deficiencies in 16 courses and suspended enrolments in 14.
It triggered the resignation of chief executive Robin Murt and sacking of chairman Peter Vaughan, as TAFE now races against the clock to repair courses for the new academic year.
Courses hit by the sanctions include qualifications in motorcycle mechanics, meat processing, commercial cookery, aged care, hairdressing, plumbing and building and construction.
The biggest redundancy payments were made in 2013-14, as $45 million was handed out to cull 370 staff. Fifty-one payouts worth $3.9 million were made last financial year.
Opposition education spokesman John Gardner said the State Government had delivered “the worst of both worlds” by cutting TAFE while also pulling support for alternative private providers.
“It’s clear TAFE senior management and the Government have had the wrong focus,” he said.
“They have got numbers down in the short-term but taken their eye off the ball of quality.
“They’ve managed to destroy private providers sector and at the same time, because they have had such a callous disregard for the training sector, have used TAFE as a featherbed to appoint union mates and Labor Party hacks. Quality in training is the most important thing.”
TAFE acting chief executive Alex Reid said the agency reviewed the ongoing needs of positions across the organisation before offering any targeted voluntary separation packages.
“Following these reviews TAFE SA may choose to undertake a TVSP round which commences with an expression of interest process,” the spokeswoman said.
“Decisions regarding TVSPs are made on the basis that the position is deemed to be excess to requirements. “The TVSP rounds ... are used to reduce positions where they are no longer required — in subject areas where student numbers have reduced for example.”
Mr Black is now a vocational training consultant focused on the international sector.
He said a major problem for TAFE was its lack of staffing flexibility compared to the private sector, where employees could be quickly hired or let go to fit students’ needs.
“If you look at the vocational training sector, it provides services that vary very significantly over a period of time because of changes in demand as the economy differs,” Mr Black said.
“What you need is a sector that’s relatively adjustable and flexible to deal with that.
“The problem in the public sector is that flexibility hasn’t been there because of industrial agreements, which comes back to the fundamental principle about public sector permanence.”
The State Government has hired an independent firm to provide quality assurance and advice on how to improve internal mechanisms, as other important remedies.
The Australian Skills Quality Authority has agreed to extend the time before the suspension of new enrolment begins, which the State Government says will allow students to study this year.
ASQA has flagged new TAFE audits this year.