Federal Labor Leader Anthony Albanese should have done his research before making a fly in visit to Tasmania today to undermine TasTAFE and spread fear within the community.
The fact remains that Tasmania is bucking the national trend in terms of apprentice and trainee numbers, as well as across most key indicators, despite a five year decline in apprentice and trainee activity for Australia.
The latest results show 5525 apprentices and trainees commenced work in the 12 months ending 30 June 2019 in Tasmania, up 9.7% from the same time last year.
Embarrasingly, it seems Mr Albanese has already forgotten Labor’s track record when it comes to TasTAFE.
If so, his state counterparts should have reminded him about their complete destruction of the training organisation when they abolished TAFE and the lost 4000 apprenticeships.
In stark contrast, the Hodgman majority Liberal Government remains the strongest supporter of TasTAFE, and since 2015 has increased recurrent funding to the organisation from $73.5 million to $76.5 in the 2018-19 financial year.
More Media Releases from Jeremy Rockliff
More Media Releases from the Minister for Education and Training