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Speaker 1: The big news of the day is the fact that

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Speaker 1: Charles Darwin University has today announced that Professor Scott Bowman

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Speaker 1: is going to conclude his tenure as the Vice Chancellor

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Speaker 1: and president. Now it follows on from the apprenticeship bungle

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Speaker 1: and from today we know that well, Professor Fiona Colson

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Speaker 1: is going to serve as the acting vice Chancellor and

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Speaker 1: Professor Colson joins me on the line. Good morning to

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Speaker 1: your Fiona, Good morning Katie, thanks so much for your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Now obviously Scott Bowman out as of today.

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Speaker 1: I mean this all sort of centers around the apprenticeship bungle.

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Speaker 1: First off, can you tell us how many apprentices have

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Speaker 1: been impacted.

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Speaker 2: We've had thirty nine apprentices who yet to complete their

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Speaker 2: qualifications and they are undergoing gap training. We've also identified

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Speaker 2: and of ninety two graduates who have been affected and

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Speaker 2: we've been in contact with them to set up their

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Speaker 2: rectifications that we need to undertake.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so it's not in the hundreds as other media

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Speaker 1: had been reporting, some saying upwards or up to about

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Speaker 1: four hundred people.

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Speaker 2: It's not four hundred people. We have had courses where

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Speaker 2: someone has undertaken a short course in power tools or

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Speaker 2: in our certificate to pathways that may have undertaken some

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Speaker 2: of the units that were in the carpentry program, and

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Speaker 2: we're working those through, but certainly not in the four

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Speaker 2: hundred mark, but we are looking at that to be

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Speaker 2: around one hundred and fifty five students.

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Speaker 1: So all up, I guess it is safe to say

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Speaker 1: that it's close to three hundred students impacted.

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Speaker 2: It is, Yes, it is, I mean it is.

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Speaker 1: It's a debacle. There's no other way to put it.

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Speaker 1: How on earth could this happen.

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Speaker 2: We're working that through. The first thing that we're working

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Speaker 2: on is actually getting the solutions for those affected, getting

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Speaker 2: this addressed as quickly as possible. We're also having an

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Speaker 2: independent revealer to come in and actually answer those questions

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Speaker 2: for us, why did this happen? What can we do

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Speaker 2: to prevent this from happening again? So that will be

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Speaker 2: being undertaken this week, and we thought it was important

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Speaker 2: to have someone independent to do that rather than ourselves.

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Speaker 2: I would highlight we did pick this issue up, but

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Speaker 2: we could have picked it up earlier, and that's really

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Speaker 2: what we want to know the answers to to ensure

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Speaker 2: that this never happens again, why.

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Speaker 1: Was the Minister for Education and Training, Joe Hersey not

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Speaker 1: told about this when it was happening, Given the fact

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Speaker 1: well she was told about it, she sees from a

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Speaker 1: third party, given the fact that that you know this

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Speaker 1: is impact in quite a large portion of students.

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Speaker 2: I cannot speak to what the timing of what the

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Speaker 2: Minister I was told. I am aware that the Department

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Speaker 2: were advised and in recent weeks Professor Bowman had been

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Speaker 2: in quite close contact with the minister. But certainly we

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Speaker 2: can always communicate further with the Minister, and we're working

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Speaker 2: quite well with the Minister and the department.

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Speaker 1: So in relation to that review, when do you anticipate

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Speaker 1: that you'll have some answers from that review?

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Speaker 2: We really would be looking at that within the next month,

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Speaker 2: probably sooner than that. That review will start this week.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, what are the steps now for the

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Speaker 1: students that have been impacted to try to get them

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Speaker 1: back in and to try to make sure that they

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Speaker 1: have done the training that they require.

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Speaker 2: Those apprentices and graduates that have been affected. We are

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Speaker 2: working that through right now. It may comprise up to

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Speaker 2: two weeks gap training on one of our campuses. In

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Speaker 2: some situations. We may be able to assess that the

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Speaker 2: students have met the requirements through their work, and it

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Speaker 2: depends on the student. We've already had students coming through

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Speaker 2: over the last week and I've been speaking with those

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Speaker 2: and it's been a good experience for them. But yes,

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Speaker 2: we're having to work with each individual student and their

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Speaker 2: situation to get the right time for them to come in.

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Speaker 1: Are they going to still have to pay for that

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Speaker 1: training to come back in? I mean it's going to

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Speaker 1: be out of pocket for them. I would suspect having

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Speaker 1: to step away from work to do that if that

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Speaker 1: is the requirement.

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Speaker 2: No, they won't be out of pocket for that. We

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Speaker 2: will be covering or travel requirements. We'll also be looking

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Speaker 2: at for those who will be losing income over that time,

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Speaker 2: what remuneration that we will be able to provide to

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Speaker 2: those affected.

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Speaker 1: What about compensation for businesses.

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Speaker 2: Those are the things that we're working through.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I mean, is there any idea how much this

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Speaker 1: could actually then cost?

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Speaker 2: Again, we're working it through, and it depends on the

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Speaker 2: individuals and how much gap training they need to come through.

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Speaker 2: But we're planning on that. We made the error and

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Speaker 2: we're working hard to fix the error as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 1: I'm very aware you're sort of stepping in here and

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Speaker 1: answering questions it realistically, we had planned to ask Professor

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Speaker 1: Scott Bohoman if we had him on the show. I mean,

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Speaker 1: when you talk about the reputational damage as a result

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Speaker 1: of this bungle, I would imagine that the institution is

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Speaker 1: incredibly concerned about that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we are very concerned about it. It's a very

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Speaker 2: difficult time for our university. It's a difficult time for

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Speaker 2: all of our staff, for all of our students. We

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Speaker 2: are a strong university. We do offer education and training

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Speaker 2: across many many portfolios. We did pick up an issue.

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Speaker 2: We've worked hard to fix the issue and we're working

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Speaker 2: through that now. We remain being and committed to being

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Speaker 2: the university for the Northern Territory and making a difference,

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Speaker 2: and we will work with the Northern Territory to assure

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Speaker 2: them that we are a strong and quality university.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's been questions us this morning about core business.

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Speaker 1: Was the eye taken off the ball and focus shifted

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Speaker 1: to more lucrative avenues like international education when the university

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Speaker 1: should have been focusing on their core business.

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Speaker 2: No, I don't think it was a case of us

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Speaker 2: focusing on international students. We have focused on making sure

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Speaker 2: that we have sufficient revenue to be able to deliver

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Speaker 2: for the Northern Territory. But we will get to the

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Speaker 2: bottom of what were the key drivers for this era

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Speaker 2: not being picked up sooner. It was picked up, but

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Speaker 2: not soon enough.

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Speaker 1: What about those international campuses. I mean, the Chief Minister

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Speaker 1: just joined us on the show and she said that

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Speaker 1: the university had sort of lost her when opening a

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Speaker 1: campus in London. What do you say to that.

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Speaker 2: The university still has its home and heart here in

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory and we are fully committed to the Northern

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Speaker 2: Territory and making a difference here. We are a small

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Speaker 2: community and we have a wide geographical footprint to deliver

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Speaker 2: training across, and we really need to be able to

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Speaker 2: have other sources of revenue to allow us to continue

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Speaker 2: to deliver across that wide footprint. It's a balance we

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Speaker 2: are by doing what we're doing with London. It's not

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Speaker 2: because we're not committed to the Northern Territory. It's the

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Speaker 2: very opposite. It's because we are and we want to

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Speaker 2: be here for the long term that we must be

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Speaker 2: financially sustainable.

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Speaker 1: Before I let you go. In terms of support for

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Speaker 1: any of the students that are impacted, have all of

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Speaker 1: those students now been contacted? Will they know if they've

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Speaker 1: been impacted or is there a way that they can

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Speaker 1: get in contact with CDU to work out what steps

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Speaker 1: they need to take next or if they need a

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Speaker 1: bit of help.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we do have a web page that set up

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Speaker 2: with a whole series of frequently asked questions for anyone

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Speaker 2: who has been affected, and will continue to be communicating

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Speaker 2: with students and employers. And yes, but if I have

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Speaker 2: any questions, they can reach out to the university well.

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Speaker 1: Professor Fiona Colson, the acting Vice Chancellor at Charles Darwin University.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning and answering some

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Speaker 1: of those questions. As I say that we had hoped

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Speaker 1: to be able to ask. Professor Scott Bowman, thank you

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Speaker 1: for stepping in.

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Speaker 2: Thank you Katie, thank you