The Australian 31 August 2012
Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans says that government will consider withholding funding due to Victoria under a $1.75 billion “national partnership” agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments in April because of Victoria’s $300 million TAFE budget cuts.
Almost $800m of this money – including $196m for Victoria – is tied to 11 “structural reforms”, one of which requires states to enable their TAFEs “to operate effectively in an environment of greater competition”.
[Victoria has] not maintained…effort. Victoria’s young people are not getting the sort of opportunities they should,…Despite their protestations, there’s no way you can say taking $300 million out of Victorian TAFE, cancelling courses [and] closing campuses in any way supports the broad agreement we’ve reached.
A Victorian government spokesman Victoria said would meet its obligations under the national partnership agreement and accused Evans of hypocrisy and asserted that :
He knows all too well that the Victorian government is directing an extra $1 billion over the next four years into the state’s training system.
