A May 10 rally against TAFE cuts announced in the Victorian budget attracted more than 2000 protesters in front of Premier Ted Baillieu’s office.
“Lock up Baillieu, throw away the key, we won’t stop until TAFE is free” was just one of chants the crowd roared. Lecturers, teachers, students, support staff, community groups, the Australian Education Union (AEU) and National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) joined forces to fight against the $300 million cutbacks.
Holding banners and posters with messages as straightforward as “Stop the TAFE rip-off”, the protesters made their voices loud enough to reach the premier in his office.
The AEU’s acting vice-president for TAFE, Greg Barclay, said the Baillieu government wants the estimated 350,000 students enrolled across Victoria’s 18 TAFE institutes to, “pay more, pay now, get a loan or get lost”. Pat Forward, AEU federal TAFE secretary said: “The eyes of the federal government are on Victoria regarding this issue.”
She said: “Three years of ill-conceived and damaging market reform” led to the cuts announced on May 1 and warned that four other states are contemplating the same sort of reforms. She emphasised the need to inform the other states and TAFE systems of the risks.
NTEU Victorian secretary Colin Long told the crowd: “As a result of these cuts, the state’s 350,000 TAFE students will have to pay far more in course costs, up to triple the amount in some instances, face increased class sizes and receive less support while they study.”
Such facts drove home the devastating consequences of the Baillieu cuts, but it was Northern Melbourne TAFE student Andrea who best conveyed the human cost of budget cuts to education when she spoke of the transformative nature of education.
She said everyone benefits from the work of TAFE graduates, “who build our houses, cut our hair, create our music and provide our hospitality”.
She criticised the Baillieu government’s inability to conceptualise the future or recognise the stabilising and protective factor of education.
The slash in funding will have devastating consequences for most TAFE students. Miriam, a Victoria University TAFE student, told Green Left Weekly: “I have just been nominated for the Refugee of the Week award for sharing with my community what I have learnt at TAFE.
“Cutting TAFE funding means depriving ordinary Australians from getting the education they deserve. When they start implementing the cuts, I will have no choice but to leave and I don’t know what the future holds for me.”
It was clear at the rally that the fight to maintain public education has only just begun. Long told the crowd: “Let this be the beginning of our long-term fight to destroy the economic rationalists and neoliberals and let’s restore the purpose of government to serve the interest of people.”
[Beatrice Hope and Alice Reed are Diploma of Community Services students at Victoria University TAFE. To support the campaign and sign the petition, please go to tafe4all.org.au.]
