Socialist Alliance member and TAFE student Sarah Hathway spoke at a rally at Geelong TAFE on April 16. Her speech is abridged below.
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I鈥檓 currently studying a Diploma of Community Services at the Gordon [TAFE]. Like many of us here, I also studied at the Gordon before these insidious TAFE cuts took effect, so I鈥檝e seen the devastating impact the cuts have had on services that used to be provided on campus.
The student amenities fee we paid at the start of the year, which was $125 for many of us, is supposedly meant to provide activities (gone), diaries (gone) and services on campus.
We鈥檝e been lucky enough to keep our library, unlike [students of] Ballarat TAFE who have lost theirs.
However, the Gordon library has had its hours severely reduced. At the beginning of term one, the library was shut all day Tuesdays, one of the busiest days of the week at city campus.
Due to student and teacher outrage, and many angry emails, the library is now open Tuesdays. This is proof that direct action works. However, it would be remiss of me if I did not point out that many of us are still struggling to access the library due to the reduced hours.
Many of us are not just students. We鈥檙e employees, we鈥檙e parents, and some of us aren鈥檛 as physically able as others. The library being open for seven hours Monday to Thursday, and only four hours on Fridays is not good enough.
Neither is the advice from Gordon management that if we鈥檙e struggling, we should use the public library across the road. Well sorry, but who are we paying our fees to?
I didn鈥檛 pay my $125 student amenities fee for services I can鈥檛 access, only to be told 鈥渨e鈥檒l take your money, we won鈥檛 give you the services, and we鈥檒l give you stupid advice like 鈥榞o and use the public library鈥,鈥 which doesn鈥檛 have the required texts anyway. If that鈥檚 the case, I鈥檒l have my $125 back.
I鈥檓 a student who is lucky if I get six hours paid work a week. I can鈥檛 afford to chuck $125 away on services that are not being provided. Some of us don鈥檛 get any paid work at all.
Lastly, and possibly most reprehensible, is the loss of student representative committees. This is a deliberate silencing of the student voice and an attempt to end student representation on campus. This is a move to disengage students from the happenings on their campus. Well, we鈥檝e already [fought this] by demanding the library be opened on Tuesdays and again by showing up to the rally today.
To assess the situation let鈥檚 look at what has changed since last year when this campaign had some momentum.
Good old 鈥渙ne term Ted [Baillieu]鈥 will forever be known as 鈥渉alf term Ted鈥. However, Baillieu鈥檚 replacement, Denis Napthine, has done nothing to restore TAFE funding. Instead, he鈥檚 promised $200 million across all TAFEs, essentially to assist in the privatisation process, a move that has been denounced by the Australian Education Union and the National Tertiary Education Union.
Labor state opposition leader Daniel Andrews has made some vague statements about restoring funding in 2015 based on student numbers.
Clearly, the Australian Labor Party has shown it鈥檚 dedication to public sector education. The Brumby Labor state government started these attacks on TAFE before the Liberals took over.
Now, the federal Labor government has cut $2.3 billion from university funding [to fund public schools as recommended by the Gonski report].
What kind of backward logic makes it OK to cut tertiary education to fund primary and secondary education? It鈥檚 like taking from Peter to pay Paul.
These latest cuts to universities mean they will have to cut services, raise class sizes and lay off staff. This tune sounds familiar doesn鈥檛 it? Under the proposed Gonski reforms, Catholic schools will receive an extra $1.5 billion and private schools an extra $1 billion. There鈥檚 one private school in Geelong that has a newly built indoor equestrian centre, and students [at Gordon TAFE] can鈥檛 even get student diaries. How is that fair?
Every time the government needs money, it uses the public sector as a grab bag. 鈥淪ingle parents don鈥檛 need welfare 鈥 they can get a job.鈥 Cut funding.
鈥淭he working class doesn鈥檛 need higher education.鈥 Goodbye TAFE.
鈥淲e certainly don鈥檛 want them mingling with rich kids at university.鈥 Cut funding.
Please support any and all industrial action taken by your teaching staff. These teachers standing among you have been fighting this battle for some time now. We, the students, need to get active.
It鈥檚 our education, and our futures. If we don鈥檛 fight back we will soon have nothing left. There will be no TAFE for future generations, no universities unless you can afford it. Please take a stand for yourselves, for your future and