Mr Martin Ferguson asked the Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs, upon notice, on 2 June 1999:

(1) Has the Australian Student Traineeship Foundation (ASTF) provided the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) with 18 school/industry liaison officers; is so, (a) was a selection process involved and, if so, what was its nature, (b) has the ACCI been provided with funding for 8 school/industry liaison officers with State and Territory Chambers of Commerce and Industry and 7 with industry associations; if so, (i) what is the nature of the funding and (ii) who are the 7 industry associations and (c) are ACCI liaison officers also attempting to enrol employers as members of the ACCI; if so, is this acceptable to the Commonwealth.

(2) Did the ASTF also enter into a project with the National Farmers' Federation; if so, were other employer organisations considered for an ASTF project.

(3) Did the ASTF Networker magazine for March 1999 contain a promotion for the ACCI with member information; if so, (a) why, (b) does the magazine provide similar advertising for every other employer and employee organisation; if not why not and (c) did the ACCI pay the ASTF for the promotion.

(4) How many copies of the magazine are printed.

Dr Kemp (Education, Training and Youth Affairs; Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

(1) The ASTF has developed a partnership with ACCI that supports 18 School Industry Liaison Officers (SILOs). The SILOs are responsible for promoting industry and employer involvement in the provision of structured workplace learning opportunities for school students. The partnerships form part of the ASTF's initiatives to increase employer participation in structured workplace learning.

(a) The ASTF determined it would pilot partnership projects with a range of different types of industry organisations including:

. a federation of associations;

. a national organisation with direct membership;

. an organisation active in rural and remote parts of Australia; and

. an organisation with a constituency which operates at the local level managing the education/training and business links necessary to combine on and off-the-job training.

The ASTF selected four organisations including the ACCI as offering the diversity of organisations and approaches required for the pilot round.

(b) The ASTF has provided funding to the ACCI for 18 SILOs. This is made up of 10 SILOs based in State and Territory Chambers of Commerce, 7 SILOs based in national industry associations and one national coordination position.

(i) The ASTF has a contract with the ACCI for $1,728,000 for the period from 1 June 1998 to 31 July 1999.

(ii) The 7 industry associations are:

. Australian Hotels Association

. Printing Industries association of Australia

. Housing Industry Association

. Australian Retailers' Association

. National Electrical Contractors Association

. Master Builders' Association

. Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce

(c) The ASTF funds are provided strictly to meet the contracted objectives of the project. The ASTF-ACCI contract makes no provision for SILOs to recruit members to ACCI affiliated organisations.

(2) Yes. Other organisations were considered in developing the SILO pilot projects. In this case, the NFF project had the backing of Rural Skills Australia and the Rural Training Council of Australia, both being leaders in training for rural and remote industries.

(3) Networker is the ASTF's official newsletter. The major theme of the March 1999 issue was the need for greater industry and employer support for structured workplace learning. It contained feature stories on both the ACCI and NFF SILO pilot projects at page three. The only reference in Networker to ACCI member information comes on page six where the ASTF lists a range of "Websites to Visit" and ACCI's website is one of seven listed. The reference reads in full:

"Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry:

www.acci.asn.au

All about ACCI—what it is; member information, its priorities and activities."

(a) The SILO article informs readers about this significant initiative of the ASTF. It highlights the importance that industry, and its representative organisations, are placing on school-industry partnerships to support workplace learning opportunities for students. It is unreasonable to interpret the article as a promotion for ACCI membership. The Website information is minimal but factual. It is difficult to construe this one-off description of the ACCI Website as a promotion for the ACCI.

(b) Networker does not provide advertising space to any organisations.

(c) The ACCI did not pay for the article.

(4) The ASTF produces 12,000 copies of Networker.