C A N B E R R 9 A C T 2600 The Hon Gary Hardgrave MP
MINISTER FOR VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION TELEPHONE (02) 6277 7380
MINISTER ASSISTING THE P R I M E MINISTER F A C S I M I L E : (02) 6273 7330
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MEDIA RELEASE September 21, 2006 TAFE FEES INCREASE UNDER LABOR Labor must make up its mind - first the Opposition leader says he wants to scrap fees, but his State Labor counterpart has just announced apprentices will be slugged more. The Australian Minister for Vocational and Technical Education, the Hon Gary Hardgrave MP, said Australians were being treated with contempt if they were expected to believe M r Beazley’s empty promises of scrapping childcare course fees when hours later the South Australian Labor treasurer announced increased TAFE fees in its Budget. Today the State Labor Government in South Australia announced the following fee increases : - an extra $450 on average t o the cost of a four-year apprenticeship; - lifting the annual fee cap for TAFE students to $1900; - an indexation adjustment for fees for introductory further education courses; and - discounted preparatory and pre vocational course fees will rise 10 cents to 60 cents an hour. ”Apprentices and trainees will face a slug of an extra $2 per hour under their ‘user choice’ policy,” M r Hardgrave said. “This announcement is further embarrassment for the Federal Labor Party. Today, while Kim Beazley was talking about child care training fees, in another part of the country, the South Australian Labor Party were announcing lifting them,” M r Hardgrave said. According to an Access Economics study commissioned in 2004 to model the impact of fee increases over the period 2004-06, some 97,000 students would be deterred from the TAFE system as a direct result of the fee increases imposed by the States and Territories. “Just at a time when Australian businesses are wanting more and more people to train, the State Labor Government is adding additional costs on the very people who want to take advantage of those opportunities,’’ M r Hardgrave said. Even unions blame the State Labor Governments for the financial pressure on Australians wanting to enrol a t TAFEs,” M r Hardgrave said.
The AEU-funded “TAF⬠Futures Report” by former TAFE teacher Associate Professor Peter Kell from the University of Wollongong, acknowledges that:
“- there are young people being pushed out of the education system by fees that ranged from $300 to more than $1700.
- I n recent years the NSW Government has sharply increased fees for a number of TAFE courses”
“The next time M r Beazley tries to blame the Australian Government for skyrocketing course fees, he best turn to his State Labor counterparts and point the finger,“ M r Hardgrave said.
“The States run TAFEs in this country, not the Australian Government and it is time M r Beazley and his State Labor colleagues take responsibility for their actions.”
Media Adviser Minister Hardgrave’s office: Nikki Voss 0402 896 100
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