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TCA Spokespersons

Linda SimonsLinda Simon: Full profile

Jozefa SobskiJozefa Sobski AM: Full profile

Media Releases

The State - Minister for Skills and Training (The Hon Alister Henskens MP)

State Shadow Minister for Skills and Training in NSW (The Hon Tim Crakanthorp)

The Federal Minister for Skills and Training (The Hon Brendan O'Connor)

Shadow Minister for Industry, Skills and Training (The Hon Sussan Ley MP)

NSW State Election 23 TCA

TCA Briefing Paper NSW State Elections 2023

"There is a need to rebuild TAFE NSW in physical, human and online terms, with centres for access, equity and excellence. TAFE colleges need to be revitalized as continuous connected learning centres, engaging community, commercial and technical interests."

TCA Shadow Minister meeting 10-11-2022

Questions to the Minister

Federal Budget: TAFE at the heart of Labor’s economic plan?

"In contrast to almost ten years of a conservative Federal Government that continued the marketisation of the VET sector and introduced such disastrous policies as VET FEE-HELP, the Albanese Labor Government made it clear from the start that it was committed to rebuilding vocational education and training through TAFE institutes and that it saw TAFE as fundamental to its economic plan."

Linda Simon writing for Pearls and Irritation Nov 2022

Made in Australia: will Labor get the job done with free TAFE?

"Vocational education needs investment and reforms to ensure Australia’s prosperity: Anthony Albanese has revealed how Labor will meet the challenge.

Linda Simon writing for Pearls and Irritation Dec 2021

 

Party responses to this inquiry for NSW election 2023.

Labor Party Tim Crakenthorpe - full response

Thank you for your email regarding support for TAFE NSW. I am responding on behalf of the NSW Labor Opposition. 

 I appreciate the reasons prompting you to write and I acknowledge the TAFE Community Alliance’s strong advocacy supporting vocational education in NSW. 

After years of neglect from the Liberal National Government has left New South Wales with a shell of a vocational education system. 14 TAFE campuses have been sold. Over a third of the staff have been sacked. 

 The number of people finishing apprenticeships and traineeships has more than halved. TAFE enrolments have plummeted by over 100,000 students. Our TAFE system was once a force to be reckoned with. At the hands of the Liberals and Nationals it has been crippled. The only way to turn this around is to invest in a TAFE system that is accessible to all. 

 Labor wants a vocational education system that is available for everyone – whether you didn’t finish school or even if you were Dux, for people with a disability, those who do not speak English as a first language, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, those who have experienced trauma, or anyone who just wants to do a course. And under a Minns Labor Government it will be. A Minns Labor Government will support TAFE to deliver the long-term strategies needed to resolve skills shortages. 

 We will tackle the conditions of hard-working TAFE teachers, starting with open dialogue with the sector and a truly fair bargaining system that reflects the value of their contribution to the education system. We will address the handbrake on productivity caused by 12 years of a Liberal and National Government by abolishing the wage cap and replacing it with a system that delivers fair wages, starting with genuine negotiations to reduce workloads and make salaries more competitive. We will reverse the plague of insecure work, starting with giving TAFE teachers job security again. I will work with industry to set-up the long-term training needs of this state, starting with Manufacturing Centres of Excellence in the Hunter, the Illawarra and Western Sydney. 

 A Labor Government will provide TAFE with the financing stability it needs to flourish, starting with a guarantee of at least 70 per cent of vocational education and training funding to TAFE each year. 

Labor will have more to say about further policies to rebuild TAFE NSW in the coming weeks.