With over 30% less apprenticeships available now in the Northern Rivers than seven years ago, the future for local tradies is more dire that ever.

This week, the NSW Government announced a review of the TAFE training system - the largest vocational education and training (VET) provider in the country. The review has been hit by criticism, with fears it could lead to the privatisation of the sector and an increased skills shortage.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the review would be led by education expert David Gonski and Professor Peter Shergold, who will report to the NSW Government by July 2020.

“We want students to think of TAFE the same way they think of university, as a leading institution for furthering their education and gaining the skills of the future,” Ms Berejiklian said in a statement.

“This Review will consider initiatives like a HECS-style program for TAFE students, greater industry involvement in co-designing courses and making sure courses are as up-to-date as possible.”

State Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin is worried that despite the review, NSW TAFE campuses will remain under threat, having already had more than 5000 staff cuts state-wide, and now with 175,000 fewer students.

Australia Bureau of Statistics data provided by NSW labor shows about 750 apprentices and trainees in the Northern Rivers region have been lost as a result of the Federal Government’s $3 billion dollars in cuts to TAFE and training. 

In the electorate of Page, the number of traineeships in 2013 was 2386; while in March 2019, numbers declined by 31% to 1636.

Ms Saffin said the TAFE sector needed to be rebuilt, after the Coalition government had decimated TAFE by “slowly cutting the valued public education institution to the bone”.

Dire situation

She said the situation was so dire that she now had numerous local tradies contacting her about being unable to complete their plumbing courses.

“I received a letter from one Lismore man in his early 20s who had recently finished his plumbing apprenticeship and had been trying to further his study to become a licensed contractor for over 12 months,” Ms Saffin said.

“He has been unable to do so because his local TAFE is not running the course. 

“Another tradie complained to me said that they have been told there are not enough students to run the course and he was told to go to Coffs Harbour - but my inquiries tell me there are enough students.

“They were told to drive 2½ hours three days a week for a 14-week block, and to take time out of their jobs. How can they do that? It is impossible.”

Ms Saffin said the fact that TAFE had had four managing directors over the 12 months of 2018-19 “said it all”, and suggested that the $6 million the Government had spent on consultancy fees would be better spent on not introducing HECs fees for the VET sector.

Ms Saffin said she was particularly concerned about the way the Government treats TAFE as a private VET, as it does the higher education providers.

“TAFE should be the core of the VET sector, education and the workforce – just like Medicare is to the health sector,” she said. 

More cuts?

NSW Labor has also slammed the Liberals and Nationals, after they refused to rule out cutting TAFE courses and closing TAFE campuses.

In Parliament this week, Liberal Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee refused to guarantee TAFE services would not be cut as a result of the newly announced TAFE review.

NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay said in a statement “this follows Ms Berejiklian’s failure to rule out the privatisation of TAFE in media reports earlier this week” and that “it should be ringing alarm bells”.

Premier Berejiklian said TAFE could become a better option for students than university, when it came to some high-end technical jobs.

“We need more tradies in existing trades, but we also need to prepare workers in new areas like 3D printing, robotics and other technology industries to provide the jobs of the future in places like the Western Sydney Aerotropolis and the Sydney Tech Hub,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“In 2019-20, the NSW Government is investing $2.3 billion in the Vocational Education and Training sector to build a skilled and employable workforce, which includes approximately $585 million in funding from the Commonwealth.

“TAFE NSW is the largest VET provider in the country, with a budget of $1.85 billion in 2019-20.”

What the review will look at

Some of the issues to be examined by the new Review will include;

• Opportunities to resolve current skills shortages to benefit the State’s economy

• How TAFE NSW can better work with industry to meet future skills shortages

• Better integration of secondary, vocational and tertiary learning opportunities

• How findings can be implemented through exemplar projects.