Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) considers that the extreme funding cuts to Victorian TAFEs announced by the Victorian Liberal Government will:

(a) damage the opportunities of hundreds of thousands of Victorian students for a decent education and for skilled employment;

(b) damage industry in Victoria which relies on TAFEs to provide skills and training to a local workforce; and

(c) result in job cuts and cuts to course offerings, including cuts of up to $300 million across Victorian TAFEs and up to 2000 Victorian jobs; and

(2) calls on the Victorian Liberal Government to abandon its irresponsible cuts to TAFE funding immediately, and reinstate proper funding to the sector.

I was going to begin this evening by saying that I was most surprised to see the Baillieu government's $300 million in cuts to TAFE across Victoria announced in the state government's budget recently but, given the acts of the state government in cutting 3,600 Public Service jobs on a Friday night via press release, it is becoming increasingly difficult to be shocked by anything presented by the Baillieu government. So I will continue to endeavour not to be shocked by their antics.

It is appalling, however, that the state government has seen fit to cut into TAFE funding—funding for students who are seeking to improve their education; funding in many instances for students who are from disadvantaged backgrounds and face a range of educational challenges. It is most disappointing and I am sure that members of the National Party and people who represent regional areas which are serviced by TAFEs must similarly be concerned not only by the financial cuts that are being made but by the consequent effects for jobs. We have seen estimates that around 2,000 jobs across Victoria are expected to go by as early as the start of next year—and those are not my estimates; those are the estimates of the Victorian TAFE Association.

To give members an idea of the magnitude of cuts for each campus, I will mention a few of them. In 2013, the statewide cuts will mean that Box Hill TAFE, for instance, will suffer funding cuts of around $24 million; Chisholm TAFE, which has a campus in my own electorate of La Trobe, will face a cut of around $25½ million; the cut to Holmesglen TAFE will be $25½ million; William Angliss TAFE will face a $5.8 million cut; Ballarat TAFE will be cut by $20 million; and Gippsland TAFE—I note that the member for Gippsland is due to speak in this debate—will be cut by $10 million. These are extraordinary figures that have been sprung upon individual campuses which are responsible for thousands of students who, as I mentioned, face educational disadvantage in many instances.

This government has a right to be interested in this issue, as the federal government has invested $224 million in TAFEs over the last four years through projects that have upgraded facilities and equipment in campuses right across Victoria, in addition to the $360 million in funding provided on average each year. So it is entirely appropriate that this debate come before this House tonight. I know that it is of significance to a great many members on this side of the House, and it should be of interest and importance to a great many members on the other side of the House.

Under the Council of Australian Governments agreement reached with the states in April, the Commonwealth has offered Victoria $435 million to support reforms to the vocational education and training system to improve quality and transparency. I should note that one of the significant consequences of the TAFE cuts is that thousands of Victorian high school students may also miss out on vocational education programs. Around 40,000 students are enrolled in vocational education and training in schools, in which TAFEs provide some of the teaching to support the program. I know that at least one school principal from my electorate, Wayne Burgess of Emerald Secondary College, has expressed his concern and remarked:

For some students, these programs keep them coming to school and keep them engaged. If they stop, what happens? We want high retention rates, we want students with skills, but now we're taking the very thing that motivates them.

Most importantly, I can see the damage that is likely to be caused at a personal level to students currently in the system and to prospective students as well as to each TAFE college across Victoria. I have met with Maria Peters, the director and CEO of the Chisholm Institute of TAFE in my electorate. Chisholm has campuses at Cranbourne, Berwick, Dandenong and Frankston and, on current estimates provided by the Victorian TAFE Association, is expected to lose around $25 million, a substantial amount of its revenue. I know that Ms Peters is gravely concerned about the potential increase in course fees and the reduction in course availability. I know that she is extremely concerned about the long-term legacy of those cuts, particularly for students who face disadvantage and for whom TAFE currently presents an opportunity to find meaningful employment.

We are already seeing examples of these kinds of cuts and the effects that they are likely to have on students who might be the worst affected. For instance, we have seen the circumstances of Ben Carbonaro, who relied on support services such as those provided by RMIT TAFE's Disability Liaison Unit during his studies that ultimately led to a journalism degree. Support services such as these are the very services that are most at risk of being cut back because of the Baillieu government's cuts to TAFE. Likewise, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are likely to experience disproportionately severe effects from this cuts. I urge members to support this motion. (Time expired)

Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

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

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the member for La Trobe's private member's motion regarding Victorian TAFE funding. It is important that we do not characterise the debate this evening in terms of those who support TAFE and those who apparently do not, because I believe that all members in this place do support TAFE. As a member of parliament from regional New South Wales I have had much to do with the Riverina Institute of TAFE and their many campuses across New South Wales—the good work they do, the community services they provide, the jobs that they give to small regional towns, and their connection with local communities, which is very much to be praised and admired.

But I would like to remind those opposite that the former Labor government in New South Wales budgeted $900 million for vocational education and training in the 2011-12 financial year and, regrettably, as with so much they do, they blew out the budget to the tune of at least $400 million. It is a basic tenet that a government, whether it be federal or state, has to live within its means.

And now we see that the Victorian Liberal government faces a difficult challenge in restoring economic credibility. Despite this monumental challenge, they have actually budgeted for a record level of ongoing investment into vocational education and training. This is far above what the previous government had budgeted. The quantum of dollars invested has not been reduced; in fact, it has been increased. They have also sought to refocus where exactly the VET funding is targeted. This measure is about ensuring that taxpayers get value for money and that the areas of skills in demand are given priority—those skills that will boost productivity and help grow the Victorian economy.

It is a difficult and challenging area of public policy. But if we as governments are investing public taxpayers' dollars in the development of skills in individuals to benefit the productive capacity of the economy—and it could be any of the state economies in Australia or in fact the federal economy, the total economy, because people who study at, learn at and attend, for example, TAFE in Victoria may go anywhere in the state—we have a responsibility to ensure that those public dollars are directed towards the best possible end.

The government in Victoria has sought to refocus where this vocational education and training funding is targeted. This measure is about ensuring value for money is achieved and that skills in demand are given priority, because it is the government's responsibility to grow its state economy. They have done this by changing the funding rates, providing more assistance for areas such as trade apprenticeships, and reducing funding to those courses that have lower educational outcomes and may have been oversubscribed in the past. Twenty per cent of courses will see an increase in funding levels, and the majority of these courses are in fact offered by the TAFE sector. In addition to this, the Victorian government has offered to underwrite debt for Victorian TAFEs. It is important to note that. This is especially important for regional TAFEs, which have much narrower operating budgets.

Ultimately, any government has a responsibility to its constituency. They must be held to account for their expenditure. It is vital that those courses and qualifications on offer do meet genuine workplace needs. The Victorian government have correctly identified areas of real demand and have tailored their funding program accordingly. If I am to touch on the history of the contestable funding model for vocational education and training in Victoria, it is important to note that this model is directly responsible for a plethora of new registered training organisations offering cheap-to-deliver courses with no discernible educational benefit.

These changes will prevent an overload of qualified people in areas where there are minimal opportunities and instead incentivise TAFEs and registered training organisations to focus their efforts on the skills that are really needed. Ultimately this should ensure that those mass offerings in courses that are not really in the public interest will be replaced with courses offering legitimate qualifications that promote the economic growth of Victoria. In fact, I believe that the Victorian government should be lauded for this move, not condemned.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to 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.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In joining in the debate tonight I acknowledge that this is an important issue, and I would like to put on record my support for the TAFE system and, like the member for Farrer, acknowledge that members on this side of the House strongly support TAFEs and think it is wrong to characterise the particular budget decisions in Victoria in the simplistic terms that the motion before the House seeks to do.

Putting TAFE onto a sustainable footing for the future has created some short-term pain—and I will not argue about that with any of the members who have already spoken. I do have a great deal of sympathy and empathy for the students and staff who have been adversely affected by these decisions. But those opposite often lecture us on this side of the House and suggest that being in government is about making tough decisions and that it is not always easy. I think that in this case the Victorian government has had to make some very tough decisions.

I listened very closely to the member for La Trobe in her speech here tonight, and there was not one mention of how we got ourselves into this mess in Victoria and the financial realities of the challenges facing the Victorian coalition government. All the rhetoric and all the trumped up indignation does not change the simple fact that the Victorian coalition government inherited Labor's financial mess. We have seen the same experience with the New South Wales budget in recent times and also the Queensland budget. It has been up to Liberals and Nationals in the coalition to clean up after Labor's mess at state level. It has always been the same. The simple fact of the matter is that Labor, in government, cannot manage money. Those opposite might not like it, but we have had this experience at federal level, when Howard and Costello were left with a $96 billion debt that they had to repay. We now have Treasurer Swan, who has had more deficits than he has probably had Sunday roasts. He has had the four biggest deficits in history and—guess what?—it is going to be up to Liberals and Nationals in coalition at some stage in the future to pay it back.

I am disappointed that we seem to be having this discussion in isolation. We do not actually get to the financial realities. It is as if the minister, Peter Hall—whom I happen to know very well; he is a close colleague and a good friend of mine—went out of his way to inflict pain on the Victorian people, which is simply not the case. He has been presented with a set of numbers in the Victorian budgetary situation, which required urgent action to put TAFE on a sustainable footing. Those opposite might not like it. They do not want the facts to get in the road of this motion and get in the road of the story they would like to tell. But the former Victorian Labor government was reckless in the extreme. Never once did Treasurer John Brumby, and then Premier Brumby, live within his means. He was propped up by record revenue throughout his whole career as Treasurer. His spending was out of control but record revenue kept him afloat, so let us not pretend that the Victorian government in the Bracks and Brumby era was anything but reckless in the extreme with its spending.

The situation with the TAFE industry, if you like, in Victoria was that the uncapped positions at TAFE colleges meant that the incoming government did not have the funding allocated to meet the demand for the positions that were provided for under the former Labor government. So we have the incoming Victorian Liberals and Nationals in coalition faced with a funding shortfall in the order of between $400 million and $500 million. It was simply unsustainable. Members opposite have gone quiet now because they know that is a fact. They were left with a significant funding shortfall.

The member for La Trobe liked to talk about this as an issue of significance—and it is an issue of significance—but it was not significant enough for the former Brumby government to actually provide the financial wherewithal to make sure it was sustainable in the longer term. Let us not pretend that this has happened in isolation or that it happened overnight. They were left with a funding black hole and they were trying to fix up the mess left behind by John Brumby and former Premier Steve Bracks.

My concern is that the experience in Victoria is happening on a wider scale throughout Australia. I am concerned that those opposite lack a diverse range of experience within their cabinet of people with direct business experience to start delivering value for money for taxpayer dollars and to control the reckless spending that we have seen. There is a severe shortage within the Australian Labor Party at state and federal level of people with direct business experience, people who have actually hired other people with their own money and had the entrepreneurial wherewithal to go out there and create wealth in our community. That is an issue for the Australian Labor Party. I am not here to give a lecture on that but it simply creates a problem when it comes to the management of the budget. This motion is, I believe, a smokescreen for Victorian Labor's financial failings in the past.

I have some concerns with the impact of those cuts and I have raised them directly with the minister. The members opposite will not be surprised to hear that, particularly in a regional area where there is often a lack of alternatives for further study. I have been prepared to work with Minister Hall and I am striving to work with my local TAFE organisations, in the interests of my region and the students in it, to make sure we can keep TAFE on a sustainable footing for the future, because most regional communities do not have any alternatives. It is important that this TAFE issue has been raised here tonight but it also important to keep it in the context of the budget situation. (Time expired)

Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to express my support for the motion, moved by the member for La Trobe and seconded by the member for Chisholm, criticising the funding cuts to Victorian TAFEs by the Victorian Liberal government.

I have spoken about this issue in the parliament previously, highlighting the importance of vocational education and training in driving productivity and lifting workforce participation. Premier Baillieu said enrolments in the uncapped vocational education and training system had 'exploded' from 350,000 to 550,000 in two years. He said that was an unsustainable growth rate and was the reason the budget cuts were necessary. In light of the skills shortages that business is screaming about, this is really a nudge and a wink from the Premier, saying, 'Don't worry—we can depend on migrant workers.' The free-market zealots in the Liberal Party would like nothing more than to drain government support from skills training and open the borders to unfettered migrant workers in a race to the bottom on wages and conditions. They miss the point that government assistance for skills training, such as that through the TAFE system, will reduce unemployment.

Unemployment is a particular problem in Broadmeadows, a suburb in the neighbouring electorate of Calwell, where it is 13 per cent and where the Baillieu government's cuts to TAFE will be felt significantly by the Kangan Institute. Fifty-two courses offered by the Kangan Institute could be cut as a result of the funding cuts. This will mean less opportunity for young people in Melbourne's north to learn skills and gain qualifications that would help them to secure a long-term job and help our state skill up its workforce. Some of the 52 courses cover some of the areas where our economy needs skills the most, including building, language studies, health and hospitality. Some of the courses are: certificate II in aviation (flight operations); advanced diploma in building surveying; certificate II in transport and logistics; certificate IV in business; course note-taking for deaf and hard of hearing people; diploma in youth work and certificate II in hospitality. These funding and course cuts come at a difficult time for young Victorians who are feeling the effects of the nation's two-speed economy and high exchange rate generated by the mining boom.

According to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the unemployment rate across Melbourne's north-west region is 6.4 per cent. Victoria has recorded the highest level of youth unemployment in Australia. Jobs figures show 22 per cent of young people aged 15 to 19 are unemployed—well above the national rate of 18 per cent. Some 14,000 Victorians aged 15 to 19 were unemployed and not attending full-time education in March, while 29,000 jobless young people were studying full time. At a time when Victorian jobs are being lost, Victoria's TAFE system needs support from the state government in order to help train and skill up young Victorians.

Along with the course cuts there will be significant job losses for teaching staff. Analysis shows that more than 550 Victorian jobs will be lost by July this year: around 200 TAFE teaching and support jobs across regional Victoria, and 350 in metropolitan TAFES and dual-sector providers. In January next year, more than 1,320 further positions will be on the line, including up to 400 positions across regional TAFE providers and a further 950 at metropolitan and dual-sector providers.

The member for Calwell and I recently met with the chief executive officer of the Kangan Institute, Ray Griffiths, to discuss the cuts, and we subsequently wrote to Premier Baillieu urging him to investigate, to immediately reinstate funding to public providers like the Kangan Institute and to reform the TAFE funding system in the context of securing public TAFE institutions. It is time to review the competition policy in vocational education and training which led to an expenditure blow-out from $800 million to $1.3 billion. The blow-out referred to by the member for Gippsland was almost entirely in private provision. It would be better to put in place quality-control mechanisms and proper barriers to entry for private providers rather than attack public TAFE.

Rather than seek to repair the broken funding system, these cuts punish the reputable, longstanding public institutes like the Kangan Institute. Private providers have been taking advantage of an uncapped system and have been putting profits before quality learning for young people. Both unions and TAFEs fear that private training colleges will abandon courses that attract lower government subsidies and switch to more highly-subsidised courses.

Funding to public providers like the Kangan Institute should be reinstated and the entire TAFE funding system should be reformed in the context of securing the funding future of public TAFE institutions. These funding cuts are a short-sighted decision. We should be skilling our own workers. (Time expired)

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In speaking on this motion by the member for La Trobe regarding cuts to Victorian TAFE funding I want to deal with the legacy issues faced by the current Victorian government and focus, not on some of the doom and gloom, but on a way forward—a way to achieve better education for Victorian students. In particular, I want to deal with the prospect of a National Centre for Coasts and Climate at Point Nepean. I will do so in three stages: firstly, looking at the vision; secondly, looking at the history; and thirdly, looking at the plan.

Let me begin with the vision, because this is about tertiary education for young people on the Mornington Peninsula who have been starved of opportunities. There are some very valuable institutions but none at the degree-awarding level—none which gives young people the opportunity to carve out a career through advanced research. The vision for a National Centre for Coasts and Climate at Point Nepean was something which began a decade ago and we have not wavered. The local community has been utterly supportive. There was a long battle to ensure that this land, which was in the hands of Defence, was not sold off to private developers. In so doing, we would have lost two great assets: one of Australia's great headlands, refuges, parks and vistas, and the old quarantine station at Point Nepean—one of the greatest historic sites in all of Australia's built environments, which we would have seen converted. The land has been preserved—of that I am confident. The solution will be in place for the next 100 years and then, I am certain, beyond that.

The buildings are the real subject of the great story to come, though. In my judgment, the history to come will be of a National Centre for Coast and Climate, conducted by Victorian universities using tertiary places allocated by the previous federal government. That vision comprises three elements: firstly, historic use—the quarantine station and the museum; secondly, marine education and coasts and climate education as a centrepiece, as the mainstay, the heart, of the campus; and, thirdly, the potential for bringing the public in, whether through conferencing or wellbeing—the notions articulated by Andrew Fairley, the current Chair of Parks Victoria, who has been a tremendous interlocutor in this project.

I now want to turn to something of the history. The community, through many fronts, worked to achieve this outcome, but the Howard government in particular put in place approximately $50 million for advancing and protecting marine and coastal education at Point Nepean and advancing and protecting the built heritage. So these elements are the historic legacy. Unfortunately, when the land was turned over from the former minister for the environment, the current member for Kingsford Smith, to the then Brumby government, much of that vision was lost, and the community work was abandoned.

There are many people to thank, including Environment Victoria, and Eric Noel, my friend, who did so much work on that front; the members of the community reference group, and others. However, we are now in a position to move forward. I have had tremendous support and engagement from the Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University, Glyn Davis; from the Victorian minister for the environment, Ryan Smith; and from the Chair of Parks Victoria, Andrew Fairley.

As we move forward, the plan is close to fruition. Parks Victoria is currently completing its analysis of marine and coastal education for the Mornington Peninsula. My belief is that there will be, most likely, three elements to that plan—exactly what the community had always envisaged: history, education, and community use and wellbeing. So that is a step forward. For that we are thankful.

Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired.

Debate adjourned.