Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The impact on regional Victoria is even worse because the TAFEs are, in some of the smaller markets in regional Australia, the only provider of these training opportunities. We are seeing closures of courses, students being turned away and staff being made redundant. Today Bendigo TAFE announced that a total of 100 staff were to be sacked due to these funding cuts. This follows similar announcements made in relation to other regionally based Victorian TAFEs. In regional Victoria we are seeing a huge diminution of training capacity, young Victorians being turned away from TAFEs, people being sacked from their jobs in the education sector and opportunities available to young Victorians being restricted. We are making record investments, but the Victorian state Liberal government needs to maintain its investment in young people and their opportunities. (Time expired)