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May 1st, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Some TAFEs will close, jobs will go and courses will be slashed under Victoria’s budget cuts, unions say.
The National Tertiary Education (NTEU) union says the cuts will reduce base funding to already struggling public TAFE colleges by 22 per cent from next year.
NTEU Victorian secretary Colin Long said it is another step in the dismantling of the state’s public vocational education and training system.
Dr Long said the impact on the quality of training will be severe, and at least two TAFEs have put staff on notice about the financial effects of the cuts.
“It will definitely result in further job losses, reduced course offerings and the closures of some TAFE facilities,” he said.
Dr Long said TAFEs had taken generations to build but were now being dismantled to make way for cut-rate private providers who are not properly regulated.
The government has committed $1 billion over four years to the state’s training system but courses that are not in demand will receive less funding.
Australian Education Union (AEU) Victorian branch secretary Mary Bluett said the TAFE cuts will decimate the sector.
“The decisions of the budget are the most horrendous in the history of TAFE,” she told reporters.
“This government has basically abandoned public TAFE and has put in place a system that will see $300 million pulled out of our public TAFEs.
“Many will struggle to survive.”
A $200 million package has been set aside for school capital projects to upgrade schools and provide new ones.
Schools to receive major upgrades include Galvin Park Secondary College, which will get a $14 million upgrade.
But Ms Bluett said nothing was done to rectify $481 million in public education cuts made in last year’s budget.
She said no funding was pledged for Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), which provides over 20,000 students who don’t want to complete VCE with hands-on learning.
Ms Bluett said the government needed to recommit to the school building program, which needs $1.7 billion.
“This is warped priorities,” she said.
“We are the lowest-funded state when it comes to public education.”
Opposition leader Daniel Andrews said the cuts targeted the vulnerable, with the education maintenance allowance halved when it provided financial support to the poorest families.
He said abolishing the school start bonus was also a “huge kick in the guts” for families with children starting in prep and year seven.
Meanwhile, $8.3 million committed for early childhood programs, including providing three-year-olds known to child protection services with free kindergarten, was welcomed by Kindergarten Parents Victoria (KPV).
KPV said the programs were vital in protecting vulnerable children before families reached crisis.
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