Education Minister Sarah Courtney must explain if her plan to appoint a consultant to "work to review and consider TasTAFE's infrastructure needs over the long term" means she intends to sell off infrastructure assets and close campuses.
Shadow Education Minister Josh Willie said Ms Courtney had advertised a tender last weekend as part of her so-called TasTAFE reforms but had then gone into hiding, refusing to explain if that meant she intended to use the audit to justify to selling TasTAFE facilities.
"Teachers, staff and students are right to question Ms Courtney's intentions. Is she planning for the closure of campuses once her half-baked plan to gut TasTAFE comes to fruition?" Mr Willie said.
"If she denies that, Ms Courtney should say so.
"Sarah Courtney's announcement of a tender needs an immediate and honest explanation."
Mr Willie said Ms Courtney and the Liberal Government were determined to wreck TasTAFE from the ground up.
"Under her plan, the Gutwein Government's so-called reforms are really a plan to dismantle TasTAFE and turn it into a budget-version of Tasmania's key public training institution.
"Minister Courtney has had every opportunity to rule out whether her plan will result in job losses, loss of courses and fee hikes – but she cannot. Can she definitively rule out selling off TasTAFE assets?"
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Minister for TAFE
