Australian Education Union Deputy Federal President Maurie Mulheron said this showed that the Morrison Government has failed to appreciate the vital role that TAFE graduates play in keeping the Australian economy operating, especially in tough economic times.
“There are 140,000 fewer apprentices now than when the Federal Coalition was first elected,” Mr 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,” Mr Mulheron said.
“For years the Federal Coalition has systemically starved TAFE of funding and forced people to engage with private sector training providers, yet now we learn that there is almost a billion dollars in unspent TAFE and training funding.
“Last week we saw the Morrison Government slash $3.9 billion from the Education Investment Fund. This was money intended to be invested in desperately-needed infrastructure improvements in the TAFE and Higher Education sector.”
“The Morrison Government clearly is not interested in ensuring that people across Australia have access to high quality vocational education,” Mr 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.”
“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,” Mr Mulheron said.
The Federal Government has announced new school infrastructure funding, but should more be done to…
Sexting has become ordinary practice for the majority of teens. Should we be teaching them…
Educators may be surprised at one of the findings of a national research project into…
There is so much to see and do in Sydney, with many educational opportunities available…
Sarah Drysdale from Commbox discusses AI and cyber security innovations in 2024 for the education…
A pilot program co-funded by the QLD and federal governments will aim to ease teacher…
This website uses cookies.