Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the motion moved by the member for La Trobe. I had to laugh out loud at the statements made by the member for Farrer. I am surprised she could keep a straight face during that contribution tonight, because she has belled the cat: the money is being ripped out of TAFEs and given to private providers. This will not assist training and diversity in our state. It will not go to the courses we need. It is going to visa factories. It is going to people getting courses in areas where we do not need training. We have demonstrated time and time again that it is a shonk. But we need to bring to the attention of the House the decision by the Baillieu Liberal-National government to rip $290 million out of the Victorian TAFE system. It is a matter of grave concern not only to Victorians but to the rest of Australia.

Education and skills training offer the best path to a bright and secure future for our young people and, indeed, the many older people who use the TAFE system to re-enter the workforce. And who is to determine what the best course is? You may go and do a part-time course that gets you back into training—it may be in belly dancing, but it gets you inside the training system and you go on and do more things. Who is to undermine those TAFE courses that so many people do? TAFES are a phenomenal asset to our community. People on the other side have been bagging TAFE for centuries, and they should get over it.

The Baillieu Liberal government have demonstrated that they just do not get what a TAFE system does. For many young students it is only with the qualifications and training that a TAFE provides that they can have any hope for the future. One of the best things I do each year is go to the Box Hill TAFE awards night for apprentices. Every one of those kids has a job to go to. Not everyone walking out of university has a job to go to, but every one of those apprentices already has a job to go to. We need to remember that TAFE is not just about students and training; it is about business, it is about the future, it is about skilling up our workforce and it is about ensuring that we actually provide the skills we need into the future. It is our TAFE sector that has the best connectivity with industry, and we are now denuding that in Victoria. It is something the Gillard government has long recognised, and under the COAG agreement in April we offered the Victorian TAFE system $435 million to support reforms to the VET system. Again, it is another Liberal government taking federal money and cutting their own funding. It is just a cost shift.

The Gillard government has also invested $224 million in Victoria's TAFEs over the last four years. I have had the absolute delight of opening some new facilities in my electorate at both Box Hill and Holmesglen TAFEs and I will be opening the new centre at Gibbs TAFE if it survives this downturn. The Gibbs TAFE campus is in Chadstone in my seat. It is Gippsland TAFE's wonderful training facility which the Gillard government provided with $16 million. Over the next five years the Gillard government will deliver more than $2.2 billion of funding to Victoria to provide the skills that Australian businesses and individuals need to compete in our modern economy. Yet, still, the Baillieu coalition government just takes money away. There is no way you can dress this up as a good thing.

In my own electorate, the future of one of the largest TAFE colleges in Victoria, Holmesglen TAFE, hangs under a dark cloud. With $25.5 million cut from its budget, Holmesglen TAFE is now faced with having to make the horrible choice between doubling fees, cutting courses or sacking staff. This is a tragic state of affairs. It is tragic for the students who are denied training opportunities and tragic for the staff who face a shocking future. It is also tragic for businesses who rely upon the skills that come out of Holmesglen. I had a work experience student in my office just two weeks ago who is doing a vocational course at Holmesglen. He said that his life will be in ruins if his course goes. Let me assure you it will be in ruins.

Another TAFE college in my electorate, the phenomenal Box Hill Institute, is faced with severe cuts. John Maddock, the CEO of Box Hill and I met recently. Peter Garrett hosted a forum at Box Hill TAFE and we heard firsthand about this tragic situation. John said:

We're looking to minimise jobs cuts but 150 to 200 people may have to go. The estimates are around 2000 jobs will be cut from the TAFE sector across the state.

Mr Maddock said the TAFE was looking at which courses it could increase student fees for and which courses would be discontinued. He went on to say:

The one thing we will not do is put the quality of teaching at risk, nor will we put our links to industry at risk ...

Job losses are going to vary across all the industry and courses. We would rather make an informed decision in two months' time than rush a decision. Once we do the cuts, it's hard to bring people back.

That is the other thing people do not realise: getting good quality staff in TAFEs is really hard because you are competing with expertise out in the sector. Once you lose these staff you can never get them back. They will be lost forever. There is no way the Baillieu government or anybody can play this up as a good thing. It is an abomination for our state and for all Australia.

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