Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about the impact on my electorate of the proposal of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, to slash $230 million from the Trade Training Centres in Schools Program in round 2. It will mean something like $15 million worth of projects not going ahead. Three of those projects are in my electorate. The first is the Evanside Trade Training Centre, comprising Evans High School, Coreen School, which is a special high school, and Doonside Technology High School. They were to receive $4½ million. The funds were going to be used to construct new metal and engineering facilities at Doonside Technology High and to upgrade Doonside’s hospitality facilities to industry standards. At Evans High School, the funds were to be used to upgrade existing hospitality and engineering facilities, while at Coreen funds were to be used to upgrade existing hospitality facilities to industry standards. This is devastating for all parents and students, but especially for those parents and students at the special high school.

The second project is the Loyola Catholic Trade Training Centre at Mount Druitt, which the Deputy Prime Minister came out to inspect personally. I do not know why the coalition singles out the Parramatta diocese. It had invested $1 million in a very bold program to establish an ATC in the electorate of Greenway and that was finally withdrawn from them. This project is receiving $9 million and the schools involved are Loyola Senior High School, Clare Catholic High School, Emmaus Catholic College, St Agnes Catholic High School, St Andrews College and Terra Sancta College. Three of these high schools are in Chifley, two in Greenway and one in Prospect. The funds will be used to construct a multipurpose industry standard facility at Loyola High School to deliver automotive, construction, engineering and electrical qualifications as well as a commercial kitchen-cafe and a hairdressing facility.

The final project is the Tyndale Trade Training Centre. In my time as a federal member I have become very close to Tyndale Christian School and we have seen a lot of money being poured into Tyndale by this federal government. The funding for this project is $1,392,608. The partnership includes Kuyper Christian College School at Greenway and Toongabbie Christian School at Parramatta. The funding is to be used for the construction of a new industry standard facility and the refurbishment of existing facilities to industry standard at Tyndale Christian School to deliver hospitality qualifications.

I know that the school communities—the principals of the schools, the teachers, the students and the parents—are devastated that these announced projects are under threat by the coalition. In fact, they will not go ahead if the coalition were to be successful, because they have promised to cut the funding for all stage 2 projects. Our candidate in Greenway, Michelle Rowland, our candidate for the electorate of Chifley, Ed Husic, and I are committed to providing opportunities for all students. Providing opportunities for vocational education to enable students to enter the world of work is absolutely critical for electorates like Greenway and Chifley. I know that Michelle Rowland and Ed Husic will do their best to ensure that the Rudd government is returned and that the almost $15 million worth of projects—projects that will profoundly affect the educational opportunities and work opportunities for students in the electorates—will proceed as announced and as planned. If you want to know who is keen about vocational education, who supports vocational education and who is putting money into vocational education, it is the Rudd Labor government.