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

What we know is that students will get less opportunity, they will be charged higher fees and they will have to travel, many of them, a long way to get access to a TAFE. The hits on the rural and regional parts of Victoria are devastating. We see a range of closures in regional Victoria which will mean students in those communities will not get access to TAFEs. They are the only training providers of any substance in many of those communities.

In addition to that, many of the TAFEs, according to a leaked cabinet document, are looking at fee increases of 100 per cent. TAFEs traditionally have provided opportunities to working-class kids and rural and regional kids that otherwise would be denied them. These cuts will mean those opportunities are not there. This Victorian Liberal-National government has forgotten people in rural and regional Australia and is going to really undermine the effort to provide the highly skilled workforce of the future.