Campbelltown MP Greg Warren has hit out over the Baird Government’s decision to recruit a raft of senior bureaucrats at TAFE as a waste of resources.
He says the Baird Government is creating a team of eight senior bureaucrats – each paying almost $250,000 a year – to push through the government’s failed Smart and Skilled program, which has seen government funding diverted away from TAFE and into the hands of private vocational education providers.
The decision comes after massive cuts of over 2,500 teachers and other positions at TAFE across NSW, including as many as one in three construction teachers at campuses in south west Sydney, including Campbelltown and Macquarie Fields, according to Mr Warren.
“It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to pay a bunch of bureaucrats top-dollar salaries at a time when the Baird Government has cut 2,500 teaching and support staff from TAFEs across NSW,” Mr Warren said.
“We need more resources on the frontline to help young people in Campbelltown get the skills they need, not more bureaucrats to sell Mike Baird’s failed Smart and Skilled program.
“This is an appalling decision from a Government with the wrong priorities.
“The focus should be on providing school leavers and students every opportunity to get the skills they need to get a good job,” Mr Warren said.
The Member for Campbelltown claims that since the Smart and Skilled program was introduced in 2011, TAFE enrolments have plummeted by almost 50,000 and TAFE students in south west Sydney are paying hundreds of dollars more in course fees.
Mr Warren has long been a strong advocate for TAFE, calling for proper funding to ensure that local school leavers and other TAFE students have every opportunity to get the skills they need and that the economy needs for jobs and growth.
