We made it…Michael Valantine, Ruth Boydell, Terri Quinlan, Chris Van Der Wall and Linda Simon outside federal parliament in Canberra.

Canberra walk publicises TAFE funding needs

MICHAEL VALANTINE gives a firsthand account of the walk from Sydney to Canberra that promoted TAFE funding needs.

The idea to walk from Sydney to Canberra came to me when the federal election campaign was raised at a TAFE TA executive meeting earlier this year. Members were discussing various ways of how TAFE TA was going to campaign around issues of TAFE funding and cuts, privatisation, Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) and other work related matters. Suggestions included marginal seat campaigns, badges, posters, letters and lobbying politicians. I soon realised that while the suggestions were good, they had all been done before. Something new had to be done, but what? It would need to be something that would capture people's attention, trigger their imagination and create some real interest in the community, media and then hopefully by the politicians.

I soon piped up with: "Let's demand, let's march and demonstrate, let's march and walk all the way to Canberra."

After much discussion, a great deal of planning and all in a very short time frame, a small group of TAFE teachers were farewelled from Federation headquarters in Sydney on April 30 at 9.30am. We were determined to spread the message of massive Federal funding cuts, (26 per cent in the last 10 years), amounting to about $2 billion stripped from the TAFE system. It's absolutely disgraceful considering 80 per cent of people in the workforce have been trained through TAFE and at a time when there is a desperate shortage of trade skills. Something had to be done -- we were mad!

The route chosen was more than 300 kilometres and included a mixture of suburban streets, major roads, highways and country roads, passing through every town and TAFE college along the way. Walkers were unsure of whether they could make it, how far they could go and what to expect along the way.

The walkers' expectations were summed up best by Newcastle TAFE maritime teacher Ruth Boydell who said: "I had doubts about my own ability to keep up the momentum, I didn't know if I could do it, but the issue of funding is so important that I was determined to try."

After leaving Federation we had stops at Ultimo and Petersham TAFE colleges before completing day 1 at Bankstown TAFE. Everywhere we stopped we had students, teachers and well wishers busy signing letters that we were taking to John Howard, requesting proper funding of TAFE. We had many walkers join us on the walk, some for only a few kilometres and others that walked nearly all the way.

What surprised us most was the reaction of people as they walked past. We were wearing bright yellow t-shirts with "Walk to Canberra" on the front and "TAFE walk 2007" on the back. People would pass us, take a few paces, turn around and say, "Are you really walking to Canberra?" We would reply, "Yes we are", they would then ask, "Why the hell would you do that?" We then handed them a flyer explaining the purpose of the walk. It didn't matter how young or old people were, they were fascinated that anyone would go to such lengths to highlight an issue. We said we were so passionate about TAFE that we wanted to show our true effort and commitment. Our message seemed to really gel with the community and everyone we met gave us full support and praise for our efforts, many of whom wanted to take part in any future walk.

We left Bankstown TAFE the next day, with groups of students and teachers walking with us part of the way to show their support. The idea of the walk seemed to capture their imagination and really struck a cord with the students who said: "This is mad, I wanna come." Legs tired and sore from the previous day, Ruth and I walked on, but it felt a little depressing knowing how far we still had to go. But the support shown seemed to give us extra strength to carry on.

As we walked along cars were blowing their horns, people were waving and showing their support, and it felt good to think people really did care about TAFE and our cause. Most people we spoke to were unaware of the funding issues and commented that they valued TAFE. They either went to or had been to TAFE themselves or knew someone else that had. I think at TAFE, we have for far too long been doing the job (training society) and not promoting ourselves and our activities properly.

Liverpool TAFE gave us a big send off the next day. The student association had organised a sausage sizzle. So, after a breakfast of sausages, speeches, photos and letter signing we were heading for Campbelltown via Macquarie Fields TAFE. This pattern continued on day after day: stopping at TAFE colleges speaking to students, teachers and well wishers, and feeling that we were getting the message out.

Day 4 was a walk to Moss Vale TAFE -- the longest day of the walk. Former TAFE student Megan Fabian give up her own time to walk with us for most of the day. She saw details of the walk in the paper, thought TAFE has been good to her and was a great cause. We didn't take the major highway but followed the smaller country roads instead; this gave us more opportunity to visit every town, no matter how large or small, and provided a safer option. The major downside to this route was that it added extra distance to the walk, following winding, hilly roads. This was compensated somewhat by a couple of short stints in the car, in areas where it was considered too dangerous to walk.

Moss Vale to Goulburn was another long walk but waiting at Goulburn TAFE was the promise of a massage from the massage students at the college. This inspired all the walkers and a large group of local supporters met us on the outskirts of the town to walk to the TAFE with us. Goulburn Mayor Bob Stevenson, media, students, teachers and the community were on hand to greet us. The massage was unbelievable -- I didn't realise how painful my body had become until the massage commenced and at times it felt like she was massaging me with a knife. When it was all over all the pain was gone, my strength and energy was back and I felt like I could walk another 40 kilometres there and then!

Nowra TAFE teacher Chris Van Der Wall knows how to pick his days -- he joined the walk to Goulburn and had a massage. He then had to leave. He rejoined the walk on the last day for the Canberra celebrations.

We left Goulburn heading for a small town called Tarago, some 40 kilometres away. We had a small group of walkers with a couple of new walkers joining, TAFE teacher Jennie Blevins and barrister Martin Rush (he caught a train all the way from Sydney to Goulburn just so he could join the walk to Canberra). The walk was hard. It was cold and windy and there were lots of hills. Jennie was only intending to do 20 kilometres and then return to Goulburn, but amazingly walked the whole 40 kilometres to Tarago and the came back for the next day too.

In a tiny town called Lake Bathurst we thought we were coming to the end of the day but then realised there was still six kilometres before Tarago. It is amazing that somehow if you push past the 'hitting the wall' point, the pain seems to ease a little and you can keep on going. Sometimes a slow jog or changing your stride is all your body needs for a little relief.

Coming into Tarago at dusk there were only three of us left. We were extremely tired and had sore, blistered feet. We walked into the local pub and received an overwhelming reception. All the patrons cheered, wanted to shake our hands and find out all about the walk. There were also beers waiting for us on the bar. What an incredible feeling -- it made the day feel all worthwhile.

We then had three shorter days: to Bungendore, Queanbeyan and then finally Parliament House, Canberra. The reception from every place we visited was amazing. We never expected to connect with such a wide range of people of all ages and from all areas.

Walking up to Parliament House on the last day there were many mixed emotions. There was a sense of relief that the walk was over but there was also a sense of loss and sadness. We were greeted at Parliament House by the Australian Education Union national TAFE Executive, other TAFE members, various politicians (although none from the Government), media and other supporters. We spent the next few days lobbying the Federal politicians and to my surprise we were the talk around parliament -- nearly everyone knew that we had walked from Sydney to Canberra and they all wanted to know about it.

The walk was extremely hard and everyone who took part had their own personal goals and challenges.

Wyong TAFE teacher Terri Quinlan joined the walk at Moss Vale and walked every day from then on. She had badly blistered feet and struggled up the hills but to her credit and our amazement kept on going even when we thought she looked like keeling over. Terri's worst day was the last -- we did the 14 kilometres from Queanbeyan to Canberra without support and on a short time schedule (we were due at Parliament house by 12.30pm). Despite being in intense pain and needing to walk fast, she made it -- with 20 minutes to spare. "We just had to be there and I was stubborn and determined to make it," she said at the finish.

There were many people involved in the walk -- all committed and none more valuable than the support team of Maxine Sharkey, Astrid O'Neill, Peter de Graaff and Linda Simon. Maxine was with us nearly every step of the way. Many of the walkers changed positions with the members in the support cars and the success of the walk was due the combined team effort. The cars carried the luggage, equipment, food and drinks to keep us all hydrated. They would drive ahead a couple of kilometres and be there to ensure everyone was alright. We felt such a sense of relief every time saw them. It felt like we were making progress. The support team would pick up walkers that needed a rest and would go ahead to the various stops to make sure that everything was ready for our arrival. They were also the point of contact for the media. There is no way that we could have done it without them. I can't thank them enough.

The walk was an amazing adventure -- nothing like this had ever been done before for TAFE. There were bonds and friendships made through extraordinary experiences (too many to explain here). Everybody involved gave 110 per cent commitment. Everyone involved should feel very proud of their efforts -- we gained more publicity and support than anyone imagined.

There have been many suggestions on how we could improve the event and whether there will be a next year. Next year, maybe, who knows?

Michael Valantine teaches at Muswellbrook TAFE.

Some support for apprenticeships but no extra funding for TAFE in the Budget

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