Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

The chorus of criticism for this new WorkReady policy from the South Australian government has been widespread. I will highlight some of those critics to demonstrate that is not just our government and me as a minister but a wide range of key stakeholders who have concerns. The South Australian Council of Social Service and the Mental Health Coalition of South Australia has said that:

… will destroy investments in high quality training infrastructure that Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) linked to community based organisations have built up over the last decade.

The organisation Regional Skills Training has said that it will be enormously detrimental for young people in SA. The Master Builders Association of South Australia has said that the new policy could lead to construction skill shortages and higher costs for homebuyers. The Restaurant and Catering Industry Association has said that:

…this decision overturns many years of competition in the training market at a time that our industry can't afford to have less skilled labour supply.

This is a devastating decision that the state government really needs to reconsider.