Concerned residents headed up by the Maitland Greens rallied against TAFE cuts at the Hunter Campus on Monday as part of a statewide campaign opposing privatisation and cuts to teachers, courses and resources.
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The demonstrations, held outside Hunter TAFE’s Maitland, Belmont and Hamilton campuses, were co-ordinated with an online petition directed at state Premier Mike Baird.
The protest comes less than a month after a leaked state government cabinet document named 27 TAFE sites to be sold for a total of $62.97 million and earmarked four Hunter campuses to be fully or partially sold for $6.47 million.
Greens MP John Kaye criticised the state government’s Smart and Skilled program which he said aimed to strip more than $750 million from TAFE’s budget and put it into competition with private providers in a release online.
“More than 2600 teaching and support staff jobs have been lost since 2011 and there are tens of thousands fewer students,” Dr Kaye said.
“The future of skills and access to jobs in NSW can only be rescued by dumping Smart and Skilled and restoring TAFE’s secure budget.”
Maitland Greens member and protester Jan Davis said removing resources from TAFE would directly damage the Hunter’s ability to produce skilled workers in the face of the resources industry downturn.
“We should be putting money into reskilling for growth industries like renewable energies,” Ms Davis said.
“Young and old will need reskilling [in the Hunter] and one of the best systems in the country is TAFE.
“It has been degraded and it’s terrible to see.”
The open letter to the premier posted on Dr Kaye’s website called upon members of the community to stand behind the TAFE educators, current and prospective students.
It demanded TAFE be granted secure rights to teach certain courses.
“No private provider should be funded for any course that TAFE can provide,” the letter reads.
“No public funds should go to for-profit training providers or new entrants to the market.”