Funds to be frozen

By Wendy Currie

Cuts to Commonwealth funding of TAFE have reached outrageous proportions and the situation threatens to deteriorate even further.

Commonwealth funds are distributed via the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) Agreement. When the Coalition came to power in 1996, they cut vocational education and training (VET) funding immediately.

Funds since the 1998 ANTA Agreement have remained static, with the result that, each year, massive cuts have occurred in real terms. These measures have resulted in a cumulative reduction of $240 million in Commonwealth funding for VET.

In addition, to receive the Commonwealth funding, the states have been forced to implement the "growth through efficiencies", meaning costs associated with increased student enrolments must be met by further efficiency measures.

States have also been forced to increase implementation of the "contestable funding" of VET programs.
This means increasing amounts of public VET funds must be put out to competitive tender. These funds increasingly go to private VET providers.

The Commonwealth's Vocational Education and Training (VET) Amendment Bill 2000, currently before the Senate, would freeze VET funding for another year at the 1998 level.
The current ANTA Agreement expires this year but negotiations between Federal Education and Training Minister Dr David Kemp and the state education ministers have failed to reach agreement. An alternative funding proposal tabled by NSW, and supported by the other states and territories (except South Australia), was rejected by Dr Kemp.

The Commonwealth and State Ministers will meet again in mid-November in an attempt to reach some consensus over the new ANTA Agreement.

The Australian Education Union has proposed an alternative agreement which attempts to deal with issues such as the funding freeze, and the need to resource enrolment growth.

Meanwhile, members have been asked to contact Federal politicians, particularly Senators, to express opposition to the VET Amendment Bill 2000 and support for increased funding via the new ANTA Agreement.

Wendy Currie is a Research Officer. Information in this article has been adapted from facts sheets compiled by the AEU.

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