Statement about TAFE

I have been extensively involved for 20 years in the campaigns on promotion of public education and funding, including TAFE.

In the 1996 salaries campaign, I prepared the brief for the barrister for cross-examination of several of the TAFE witnesses. In doing so, I consulted widely with TAFE activists and officers, Australian Education Union (AEU) officers and academics, including Peter Kell, who later conducted the independent inquiry into TAFE Futures for the AEU in 2006.

Through my commitment to, and involvement in, campaigning for betterments for women teachers, I have been well aware of the exploitation of the part time casual teaching workforce in TAFE, the majority of whom are women.

Part of my role as a Research Officer has been to analyse the Federal budget each year. The bulk of TAFE’s funding comes from the Federal government and it has been effectively frozen in recent years by a government bent on undermining TAFE as the pre-eminent provider of technical, vocational and further education.

In recent years, this has included setting up a private system alongside TAFE, Australia Technical Colleges (ATCs). There has been an attempt (so far reasonably unsuccessful) to undermine the union by insisting that teachers in ATCs be employed on Australian Workplace Agreements.

In this way, the industrial relations agenda of the federal government has also been sharply aligned with the provision of vocational education and training. If the Howard government is re-elected this trend will escalate across all public education sectors. The Federation must campaign actively in support of both the schools and TAFE claims on the Federal government and opposition in the lead up to the Federal election.

I strongly support the Federation’s campaign to ensure TAFE continues to be the pre-eminent provider of vocational education and training in NSW. I also support the provision of appropriate structures within the union to ensure that, whilst TAFE is an integral component of the public education system in NSW and Australia, TAFE teacher unionists can also continue their vigorous role in the future of the NSW Teachers Federation.

Finally, I have an absolute commitment to the integrity of the representative decision-making structures of the Federation. There will be no dilution of the voices of the members or concentration of power in Mary St under my watch.