Minister Courtney determined to wreck TasTAFE from ground up

Not
content with merely wrecking the future for TAFE students and staff by pushing
ahead with her misguided plan to corporatise TasTAFE, Education Minister Sarah
Courtney now has in her sights physical facilities and infrastructure.

Shadow
Education Minister Josh Willie said Ms Courtney had late yesterday sneakily
released her plan to hire a consultant to audit the training
institution’s assets which was shorthand for closing them down or selling them
off.

“Sarah
Courtney’s announcement of a tender for “work to review and consider TasTAFE’s
infrastructure needs over the long term” needs immediate and honest
explanation,” Mr Willie said.

“What
precisely does she mean when she says TasTAFE’s infrastructure needs
consideration and what has the government been doing for seven years?

“Does
that mean she is already planning for the closure of classroom assets once she
has gutted TasTAFE? Does it mean she is going to privatise TasTAFE facilities
and infrastructure and put them to market for sale?

“Ms Courtney has been completely disingenuous on her plan to gut TasTAFE and students and staff have every right to be worried.

“This government’s so-called TasTAFE reforms are in reality an attempt to dismantle it and turn it into a budget-version of Tasmania’s key public training institution.

“Minister Courtney has had every opportunity to rule out her reforms will result in job losses, loss of courses and fee hikes but she cannot. Are campus closures now on the agenda too?”

Josh Willie MLC

Shadow Minister for TAFE