9th Oct 2012, 3:53 PM – Senate Business - Vocational Education and Training: State Funding - Against demand driven VET funding

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, which means that it was rejected. The motion was:

That the Senate-

(a) notes that:

(i) on 20 September 2012 thousands of students, parents, teachers, staff and friends of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) rallied in Victoria, and in other states, to support TAFE students and staff who are bearing the brunt of state government budget cuts such as the Baillieu Government’s devastating $300 million TAFE cuts, which will lead to campus closures, job losses, more course cuts, further increases to students’ fees and charges, and will damage the economy,(Read more about the protests on ABC News here. )

(ii) the Baillieu Government’s $300 million vocational education and training (VET) budget cuts result from a drastic shift in VET market share, where private VET courses have overtaken TAFE courses for the first time, coupled with a 310 per cent growth in enrolments in private Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), a failure of state and federal VET policy that TAFE should not be punished for,

(iii) the New South Wales Government in the week beginning 9 September 2012 delivered a $1.7 billion education budget cut that includes 800 job losses at TAFE NSW and will result in a 9.5 per cent increase in TAFE NSW course fees, and(Read more about these NSW cuts to the education budget on ABC News here and on ABC's Lateline here. )

(iv) the market-based student-entitlement model that is failing in Victoria and being adopted in other states poses a risk to the viability of the TAFE system and to the economy as it is unlikely to deliver the skilled workforce mix that Australia needs; and(Read more about the market driven TAFE funding model on the Australian here.)

(b) calls on the Government to:

(i) urgently introduce measures to curtail the growth in enrolments in private VET providers and RTOs which is draining state government VET budgets, and

(ii) revise the National Partnership Agreement to phase out entitlement-based funding and fee help, and instead focus on funding and developing public providers.

References