“Investment in TAFE is an investment in jobs for south west Sydney,’’ says the state member for Macquarie Fields, Anoulack Chanthivong.
He was commenting on leaked documents that show big falls across the board in the 12 months to mid-July in enrolments to TAFE.
“The Liberal Government’s cuts to TAFE are shameful,’’ he said.
“At a time when our community is experiencing rapid population growth, we need more TAFE places and more money invested into TAFE to provide the training and skills for our workforce now and into the future.”
The documents show overall total enrolments at TAFE were down by 11.2 per cent to 404,456.
Enrolments for the Western Sydney region are down by over 17 percent.
Mr Chanthivong says the figures paint a damning picture of the impact of the Liberal-National Government’s program of cuts to courses and staff and directly contradict the government’s claim that enrolments are on the way back up.
At Macquarie Fields and Ingleburn, courses in carpentry and wall and floor tiling have had their hours slashed by 264 hours due to relentless cuts at the hands of the Liberals, he said.
He was backed by Labor’s skills spokesperson, Prue Car.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“With skills shortages at crisis levels across many industries, now more than ever we need to invest in public vocational education to train the workforce of the future,’’ Ms Car said.[/social_quote]
“This leak shows our young people are leaving TAFE colleges in droves and it’s no wonder – the Liberals and Nationals just don’t believe in TAFE.
“Minister Barilaro isn’t financially illiterate – he can tell the difference between a plus and a minus, he just doesn’t want to confront the truth that fewer people are signing up for TAFE because of his failed policies.
“He needs to explain to students and parents right across NSW why his Government has deliberately hidden the extent of the enrolment crisis in our TAFE colleges.’’
