2,000 Victorians rally against the Baillieu government’s TAFE funding cuts after a leaked document reveals how education and training providers plan to respond.
Melbourne’s CBD was a long way to travel from regional Victoria, but she is determined to be here. Hoards of people hustle past her, descending on Treasury gardens. Blaring megaphones are being tested at a far-too-close distance. The beaming sun and stiff wind are goading her, tussling for her attention. But she is unflinching, and unfazed. She pauses to compose herself, making sure her clear, hazel eyes meet mine before she speaks. Her name is Nicole, she is 17-years old, and she can’t stand the thought of losing TAFE.
On May 1, when the Baillieu government announced plans to cut $300m of TAFE funding – taking $50m of funding out of Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) training, Nicole felt sick – as if she’d been forgotten about.
She never did very well at school. Nicole has been told she has a “mild-to-moderate” learning disability. Her family has never had much money, and Nicole doesn’t expect she’ll ever be rich. She is currently undertaking VCAL training, hoping to find a good job.
“I really want to be here so none of this gets cut,” Nicole says, “We need TAFE, and I really do.”
“Please notice us, all of us. Maybe not everyone came from wealth, but we’re all humans, and we are important, too.”
“We can make a difference. We can be better.”
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Around 2,000 teachers, students and administrators representing Victoria’s 18 TAFE providers have gathered for the September 20 rally. It is the 31st protest since the state government’s funding cuts were announced. Across Victoria, many more are engaged in a 24-hour stop-work action. According to Victorian government statistics, there are roughly 10,000 full-time teachers employed in Victoria’s TAFE sector, and around 300,000 students annually.
Among the first to arrive at the rally is a bleary-eyed Australian Education Union (AEU) Vice President of TAFE and Adult Provision Greg Barclay. Having endured an early-morning drive from Wangaratta, he is enthusiastic to help set up.
Barclay has been in overdrive, holding a series of crisis meetings across the state since a leaked Cabinet-in-Confidence document, outlining in “grizzly detail” the transition plans of each TAFE provider in response to funding cuts, was released to the public through the media. Barclay explains some of the contents of the leaked document outraged the AEU completely.
“The severity of the job losses, the fee-hikes, the sales and the campus closures were more extreme than we could ever have imagined,” Mr Barclay explains.
“These cuts are an absolute assault on public education,” he says, “and we will fight against them as long and as hard as we have to.”
“We will continue to campaign, we will continue to mobilise, and we will continue to expose what the Baillieu government is doing to the state of Victoria.”
* * *
In a press release on the day of the rally, the Victorian government’s Minister for Higher Education and Skills Peter Hall condemned the action, saying the government are committed to working alongside TAFE providers to “realise their full potential” through reforms to the training system.
“Today’s industrial action is unnecessary and causes inconvenience for TAFE students and the wider community,” Mr Hall said.
Mr Hall stated his government had pledged $1b of new investment in Vocational Education and Training (VET) subsidies over the next four years, and that TAFEs would continue to play an important role in delivering training.
* * *
Liberal Arts student Alice, who will soon speak in front of the swarming crowd, is abuzz with nervous energy. She and her friends have gathered near the front of the stage to distribute placards, calling for help in saving their Swinburne Prahran campus.
“My course has been cut in half. My campus is being closed down,” Alice says, “I only have one textbook, for the whole entire year.”
“My teachers are muddled and confused most days, because they’re afraid they’ll lose their jobs. It’s really hard.”
Nearby, TAFE teacher Rachel Sztanski is on a mission.
Handing out badges, posters and banners to anyone in the vicinity with a spare hand, Sztanski is determined to build on the momentum previous rallies generated, opposing budget cuts which she believes threaten thousands of teachers’ jobs in the most disadvantaged and marginalised communities in Victoria.
“These cuts will affect not only current, but future generations of workers,” Sztanski says, “and we need to take a stand if we want to save public and accessible education.”
“They’re ripping the heart out of our TAFE sector.”
* * *
Former TAFE teacher Phillip Mayer stands before a riled crowd, after the previous speaker, AEU President Mary Bluett slammed the budget cuts as “economic and social vandalism”.
Mayer is fired-up, his face reddening as he approaches the microphone. Recently, Mayer quit his teaching position after courses he taught to at-risk youth in Gippsland were closed down. The A4 sheet of notes he is clasping soon crumple into a ball as his hand makes a fist.
He delivers his speech without them.
“These kids are being forgotten about, because the government doesn’t think they’re worth anything,” Mr Mayer says.
“Do they have any hope of finding anything positive in their lives? Not without the TAFE system.”
“The government’s lack of support for public education is absolutely detestable.”
“Good teachers, experienced teachers, teachers with passion,” Mayer says, “are either leaving or being pushed out in the name of market forces.”
* * *
Defending the budget cuts in a May press release, Mr Hall said “reducing subsidies in areas of over-supply or that don’t necessarily lead to positive employment outcomes” was about investing taxpayers’ funds wisely and developing a strong state economy.
Mr Hall said he wanted to create “a high quality, industry driven, sustainable training system” by creating a level playing field between TAFEs and non-TAFE training providers through structural reform.
From 1 January 2013, there will no longer be higher hourly subsidy rates paid to TAFEs. Government literature outlines all providers, whether TAFEs or privately owned, will receive the same training subsidy rates in what Mr Hall has labelled a “contestable training market.”
“Quality TAFE teachers are the backbone of the public training system,” Mr Hall said, “but undue union influence is detrimental to a cost-effective, responsive and outcomes-focused system.”
“The union movement needs to take a long hard look at itself before claiming the government is destroying TAFE,” Mr Hall said.
* * *
Greens Upper House MP Colleen Hartland has positioned herself comfortably among a group of teachers dressed in their chefs’ whites to watch the rally. Hartland explains to those around her she has a deep connection with the “amazing educational opportunities” TAFE provides.
Having left school at 16, Hartland completed two TAFE courses in her 20’s – including Commercial Cookery, before returning again in her 40’s to complete another TAFE course.
“I don’t have great literacy skills,” Ms Hartland says, “and if it weren’t for TAFE I would have been locked out of the educational system.”
Hartland explains the entire Victorian community, “and especially those who can afford it the least,” stand to lose from these budget cuts.
“This government have no regard at all for ordinary working people,” Ms Hartland says, “I just don’t think they care.”
“The Baillieu government has been absolutely deaf with this policy, and they need to start listening.”
* * *
The rally winds up on a peculiarly positive note. The tangible anger and frustration expressed throughout – the chants of “Save TAFE, Sack Ted” and cries of “Shame” come to an abrupt stop. A sea of placards sway in merry unison, as two students belt out an acoustic medley of Queen’s ‘We are the Champions’ and Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’. Then, the crowds slowly disperse.
* * *
Set back from the crowds, Visual Arts student Elizabeth is lying across a large poster she has made for the rally, watching on as organisers pack up. Now undertaking her second diploma, Elizabeth explains she is already paying “five times the amount” she was for her previous course.
“For this one, I’m already paying thousands, and now that’s scheduled to double,” Elizabeth says.
Tears start to well in Elizabeth’s eyes. She begins scribbling alongside her creation – a large, demonic likeness of Premier Ted Baillieu and words ‘Baillieu Is Destroying Our Future’.
“People aren’t angry enough,” Elizabeth says, “We all need to become a lot more serious. We need to get angry.”
Elizabeth sits up to wipe her eyes and reflect on the alterations to her poster. Her latest addition reads, ‘Drop Dead Ted’.
“People can’t give up,” Elizabeth says, “We’ve got to be persistent.”
“We’ve got to keep fighting.”
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