Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

As I said earlier, the Australian government has set aside money to build Australian technical colleges: $350 million for 25 of them. Four of those technical colleges are currently open, in Port Macquarie, east Melbourne, Gladstone and the Gold Coast. This is the first time the Australian government has ever set aside money for technical colleges, and people might wonder why it took until 2005 for the Australian government to get into the business of funding and establishing Australian technical colleges. The reason why it took until 2005 for the Australian government to establish Australian technical colleges was that, since the dawn of Federation, the states used to run technical schools which were open to secondary students who wanted a career. Why are those technical schools no longer open in the state of Victoria? There are now no technical schools. Let me tell you why, and it is very instructive: when the socialist Left took control of the Victorian government, under Mother Russia herself, Joan Kirner—the same faction as was advised by the then junior member for Jagajaga—they decided as an arm of policy to abolish technical schools in the state of Victoria. It was an arm of policy. It was decided that all students should go to comprehensive high schools and, as a matter of policy, all technical schools in Victoria were closed.

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