VET & TAFE
campusreview.com.au
Threatened species?
Government accused of
sending TAFE into ‘oblivion’.
By Wade Zaglas
T
he Australian Education Union
(AEU) has accused the Morrison
government of sending TAFE into
“oblivion” after underspending almost
$1 billion in the last five years flagged for
apprenticeship, skills and training initiatives.
The funding shortfall appeared in a
Commonwealth Department of Education
report that showed only $4.35 billion was
spent between 2014–15 and 2018–19,
instead of the budgeted $5.27 billion.
According to AEU deputy federal
president Maurie Mulheron, the shortfall
is evidence the Morrison government
“failed to appreciate” the importance of
TAFE graduates to the Australian economy,
“especially in tough economic times”.
“There are 140,000 fewer apprentices
now than when the federal Coalition was
first elected,” Mulheron said.
“To have more than $900 million in
unspent vocational education funding in
such an environment is just scandalous.
These figures show just how misguided
the Morrison government’s single-minded
favouritism of profit-seeking private training
providers over our public TAFE sector
really is.
“It is yet more evidence that the Morrison
government has never believed in public
education.”
The AEU deputy president said the
Coalition had been “systematically”
starving TAFE of funding for years to
make people engage with private sector
training providers and says the underspend,
coupled with the recent slashing of the
$3.9 billion Education Investment Fund
(EIF), highlighted the government’s attitude
towards TAFE.
“The Morrison government clearly is
not interested in ensuring that people
across Australia have access to high quality
vocational education,” Mulheron said.
“With high unemployment and drought
impacting on employment and training
opportunities for young people in rural
and remote areas, we should be increasing
investment into TAFE in these areas, not
cutting it.”
In response to the underspend and
slashing of the EIF, Mulheron has called
on the Morrison government to guarantee
at least 70 per cent funding to the TAFE
public system. He is also urging the
government to provide no funding to
private for-profit providers and to cancel
debts students have accumulated in private
for-profit provider scams.
The deputy president is also pressuring
the government to rebuild the TAFE system
by re-investing in the TAFE workforce
and restoring faith in the quality of the
courses, qualifications and the institution
in general. This would include significant
capital infrastructure funding to address the
“deplorable” state of TAFE buildings across
Australia and a comprehensive independent
inquiry into the TAFE sector.
“The AEU will hold the Commonwealth
accountable for its fundamental
responsibility to Australian students to
ensure that TAFE remains public, strong,
vibrant and fully funded,” he said.
Labor’s shadow education minister Tanya
Plibersek said that “short-changing” TAFE
will compound the national skills shortage
and have long-lasting effects.
“We have a shortage of workers in critical
services including plumbing, carpentry,
hairdressing and motor mechanics,” she
said. “If the Liberals don’t do something
serious to fix the skills crisis they have
created, we could be looking at the
extinction of the Australian tradie.”
However, the minister for employment
and skills, Michaelia Cash, rejected
claims the government was deliberately
starving the TAFE sector, saying the figures
“represent underspends which come from
demand-driven programs in vocational
We could be
looking at the extinction
of the Australian tradie.
education and training”.
Cash added she would not “take lectures
from Labor” over VET funding, referring to a
drop of 110,000 apprenticeships in Labor’s
last year in office (2012–13).
“The Coalition government is committed
to ensuring Australians have the right skills
for the workforce of today and the future
and is funding skills through a number of
different components.” ■
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