The Tasmanian Government is pushing ahead with its ideologically driven privatisation model for TasTAFE which will be disastrous for students and local industry as ‘fees go up and quality goes down’. 

“TasTAFE is an affordable high-quality nationally accredited public education provider and forcing it to operate like a business is code for job cuts, course cuts and fee hikes,” said Simon Bailey, AEU Tasmania TAFE President. 

“The release of the draft legislation shows the state government is hell bent on stripping TasTAFE, piece by piece, starting with hiving off its workforce from the Tasmanian public service and forcing them into Fair Work – the jurisdiction for private sector employees. 

“In the middle of a pandemic, a tradie shortage and a teacher shortage the Government wants to make working in TasTAFE less attractive, making it even harder to attract and retain teachers who are welcomed by industry with open arms and open wallets. 

“We’ve seen how these ideological agendas play out in other states like South Australia and NSW where their TAFEs have been decimated by course cuts, widespread job cuts, campus closures and big fee increases for students. 

“As TAFEs are downgraded it clears the way for private training providers who have been notorious for charging high fees and delivering poor quality, unaccredited training which is bad for students and their future employment prospects.” 

Sign the petition to #savetastafe here: https://savetastafe.org.au/