Ms BADGER question to MINISTER for SKILLS and JOBS, Mr ELLIS
The recent brief 23-page TasTAFE Act review identified efficiencies through divestment and closing some campuses. The review says that TasTAFE believes it currently has excess campuses that represent a financial burden. Tasmanians are already outraged at your decision to redirect some core subsidies funding from TasTAFE to private mainland Registered Training Organisations (RTO) for courses that had waitlists here. Training options for Tasmanians are being diminished and campus closure will further reduce education opportunities. The Tasmanian skills industry shouldn’t suffer further because you’ve failed to adequately invest in TAFE building infrastructure. Minister, which TasTAFE campuses are you looking at closing and selling?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the honourable member for her question. What I can say from the outset is we’re looking to invest in TasTAFE. We’re looking to invest in these campuses and grow them and build them. Any member who was there at the beautiful Alanvale Health Hub expansion just over a week ago would have seen that $7.5 million investment into the key strategic training facility for northern Tasmania. It is just a beautiful opportunity for us to grow our capability and our offerings for learners. Whether you’re looking to do mental health, drug and alcohol support or youth work, you can do that now through the expanded Alanvale Health Hub now. Our taypani Learner Hub will also help to break down some of the barriers that our learners might have, whether that means additional coaching and mentoring support, digital access or even just as a place to get together with other students so that you can continue to learn and work with them.
We’re seeing these kind of investments happening all around our state. The Water and Energy Trade Trades Centre of Excellence is widely regarded as one of the best facilities in the country. That was delivered at the Clarence campus. We’re seeing the future expansion at the north-west Clean Energy Centre of Excellence which will be established in Burnie, backed in by major investment, through to our on-site learner accommodation. If you come from energy country down the west coast, you can go to learn in Burnie and get nation-leading opportunities. That’s a $27 million investment we’re working on and the funding has been delivered. People are working on site at that accommodation facility right now. We want to back in those investments.
Being an automotive TAFE student as well as yourself, Ms Badger, I know the investments made through the Budget will be delivering a new southern automotive regional training centre to replace the one that was sadly damaged by a major water leak from the Campbell Street campus. We’re looking to continue to invest and grow.
At different times, TAFE has acquired a range of different facilities. That includes things such as childcare facilities that are no longer a key training provision location, they’re actually being used for child care currently. We have some of those facilities around the state. There are also large tracts of vacant land that are ideally suited potentially to things like housing so that people can be well located next to TAFE centres.
We want to be reinvesting, we want to be asset and capital recycling, and growing our opportunities at TAFE. That’s why we’ve made more than $118 million worth of capital investments in TAFE and why we will continue to grow our facilities, continue to build and make sure that the assets we have are fit for purpose for our training future.
The SPEAKER – The honourable minister’s time has expired.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Ms BADGER – A supplementary question, Speaker?
The SPEAKER – I will hear the supplementary question.
Ms BADGER – Can you clarify for us that despite the review from KPMG stating that it was looking at recommending campus closures, you are saying that you are not going to be closing any campuses, and any divestment you’re looking at are other buildings or land that have been acquired by TasTAFE that are not currently being used for training?
Mr ELLIS – As I mentioned before, we want to invest in growth. There are some parts of our facilities that are no longer fit for purpose or being used for training that we think represent opportunities for us to reinvest in TAFE, because TAFE is a key driver. Our skills and training budget is the largest contribution in the Budget towards economic development. That’s why we want to continue to build and grow on that. TAFE over many years has been given a whole range of different lands and facilities. We need to make sure that is streamlined, that we can reinvest in the business and continue to grow opportunities for learners right now. We will continue to look strategically at those opportunities and work through them as they present. Our goal is to reinvest in our TasTAFE campuses so that they’re modern, fit for purpose and are putting the learner at the centre.
