Page 4434 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 21 November 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Proposed expenditure - Division 50 - Technical and Further Education, $43,300,300
MS FOLLETT (Leader of the Opposition) (4.26): Mr Speaker, I apologise for starting this point out of order earlier on. I think it is worth noting at this stage in the debate on the Appropriation Bill that it is the area of technical and further education which has, in effect, suffered the largest cut of any area in Mr Kaine's budget. I think that is particularly regrettable, for a number of reasons.
First of all, it is the area of technical and further education that offers an educational, training or retraining opportunity to many of the most disadvantaged people in our community. Those people, of course, include people who, for one reason or another, were not able to finish schooling or, for one reason or another, are not particularly adept in the English language or who may have been tied up at home with child care responsibilities and so on. They are people who need a special help in their education and their training, or retraining, and it is TAFE which very often offers that kind of help. It is also relevant to note that it is the International Year of Literacy and that many of the initiatives associated with that international year are programs undertaken through the TAFE system. So I think it is, again, very inappropriate that this is the area in which this Liberal Government has chosen to make the most severe cuts.
I think that there is a lot to be said for the consolidation of the TAFE campus. There is a lot to be said for making efficiencies where they can be made. But to actually reduce the expenditure in this area by the greatest amount across all areas of government expenditure is, I think, quite unfair and does not acknowledge the essential nature of the services offered by TAFE.
In the ACT in particular, TAFE is a multi-disciplinary service, and it offers vocational training as well, most notably in the hospitality area. The hospitality area is one where I believe the ACT has a great future. It is essential to our tourism industry that our training and our state of knowledge in hospitality be maintained right at the forefront.
Much of that activity takes place through the TAFE system and, again, I think that is an opportunity for people who may not have had other educational opportunities to get some training in a very worthwhile industry, and to be able to go on and have rewarding careers in that industry. So I find it extremely regrettable, as I have said before, that this is the area of the budget that has been subject to the most savage cuts.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .