The Andrews’ government scored some passing grades with the announcement of funding support for education, including some 30 TAFE courses that would be offered for free and upgrades to the TAFE campus in Morwell and two schools in Traralgon.
Australian Education Union Gippsland organiser Jeff Gray welcomed the state budget announcements of a $120 million TAFE upgrade that would be divided among its three campuses in Bendigo, Sale, and Morwell, $172 million that would go towards providing free TAFE courses, and a previous announcement of $6 million funding to upgrade Traralgon College and the Traralgon Special Developmental School.
“It’s great to hear that the government continues to recognise TAFE as the people’s first choice [for continuing education]. It’s vital for the Latrobe Valley particularly for students that didn’t have the money,” he said.
Some of the free courses covered by the funding related to building infrastructure, responding to family violence, caring for older Victorians and people with a disability.
Mr Gray said the free courses were important because the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme would require trained health professionals.
“The NDIS, for all its flaws, one of the things we know is that the demand for qualified and trained staff will grow – we need trained, young people to do those [jobs],” he said.
Mr Gray was hopeful that the courses would attract students back to the education system who had been disengaged due to funding cuts in the past.
“Creating employment and accessible training is vital for the Valley. We can’t afford our 18, 19 year olds to become disengaged – we can’t have unemployed youth,” he said.
Mr Gray said the $6 million funding for Traralgon College and the specialist school was also great news considering the hard work that parents had put into campaigning for a fit for purpose facility.
School councillor Leesa Lawrence said the money would be used for planning and site works and would not build them a new building but “it’s a good start”.
“This is basically a sweetener,” Mrs Lawrence, who led the signature campaign calling for the school’s upgrade that was previously tabled in Parliament by member for Eastern Victoria Melina Bath, said.
Mrs Lawrence said they started their funding campaign five years ago and invited politicians to tour the school to see its dire situation but received a “generic response” from most of them.
“This is education we’re talking about, education for kids with severe disability. I don’t understand where the politics come into it,” she said.
Ms Bath said there was “cautious jubilation” in terms of the Andrews’ government’s funding support for the special developmental school as there was no information about how the $6 million would be split between the two schools.
However, Education Minister James Merlino said the funding only meant that “work can start” on delivering modern educational facilities for both Traralgon schools.
