NSW Greens TAFE spokesperson, Ms Dawn Walker, will hold a Defend TAFE Forum in Gosford, on Tuesday, December 12, to discuss the need for the Government to invest more in NSW’s public TAFE system, to provide opportunities and skills for people on the Central Coast.
“TAFE has been the backbone of vocational education and training in NSW for more than a century, and helped create a strong and prosperous NSW,” Ms Walker said.
“Yet our public TAFE system has been eroded by a decade of debilitating cuts from both Liberal and Labor Governments, as well as being undermined by low-quality, for-profit private providers offering inadequate training courses,” she said.
“TAFE is vital for the economic future of the Central Coast, with above-average unemployment rates and the need to create jobs locally to fill skills shortages, especially in trades.
“However, this Government has done the opposite, by raising fees for TAFE students and cutting teaching positions on the Central Coast.
“As we face a national skills drought, it’s our public TAFE system that needs to be restored as a leader in providing practical, vocational training to help people gain new skills and employment across the Central Coast.”
Ms Walker will be joined at the TAFE Forum by Robert Long from the NSW Teachers’ Federation.
“Since 2015, the Liberal-National Party has crippled TAFE enrolments on the Central Coast by increasing fees beyond the reach of local students,” Mr Long said.
“They have deleted local teachers and increased red tape through a critically flawed IT system,” he said.
“This State Government has been a disaster for TAFE students and teachers.”
Ms Walker has recently introduced a new Defend TAFE bill into the State Parliament that aims to protect NSW’s public TAFE system from further campus closures and privatisation.
The Greens new ‘Defend TAFE’ will guarantee that 100 per cent of public funding goes to the NSW TAFE system, rather than a portion available to for-profit, private providers.
Ms Walker said it would ensure all current NSW TAFE campuses are retained as public assets, reserved for educational and training purposes that cannot be sold off.
The TAFE Forum will be held from 6:30PM at Gosford Uniting Church, 129 Donnison St, Gosford.
Source:
Media release, Nov 29
Dawn Walker, Greens NSW