OVER the last few weeks, Bega Valley residents have shared their views on a number of issues important to them when considering their vote in the upcoming state election on March 28.
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The Bega District News posed several of these issues to each of the running candidates on behalf of the community.
With talks of deregulation and the reduction in education funding at federal level having to be absorbed by the NSW State Government, the candidates were asked what their commitments are to the education of people within the electorate.
In this week’s Vox Pops, self-employed Wyndham father Greg Saarinen voiced his concern over school funding, especially at small schools like Wyndham Public School.
Meanwhile, Bega Valley resident Anthea Stewart also indicated education was a “big” issue for her when considering what boxes to number on election day.
Below are the responses received within the time frame given to all candidates in ballot order.
THE Greens Party strongly supports TAFE as an essential part of assisting young people and the not so young who are unemployed to gain the necessary skills to fill increasingly more skilled work opportunities.
Even before I was pre-selected, John Kaye attended a forum to oppose cuts to TAFE services in this electorate.
Greens opposes the so-called Smart and Skilled entitlements, which will result in higher fees for students and a greatly increased share of public funding made available to low-cost, low-quality private providers in NSW.
We also oppose public funding of for-profit training corporations.
Protection of the quality of TAFE teaching can be achieved by ensuring that all part time/casual and temporary teachers are provided with suitable teacher education opportunities of at least Certificate IV level, free of course fees.
We also support ensuring that all permanent and long-term temporary teachers receive free teacher education at degree level or higher with compensatory paid teaching release.
The development of rural renewable energy is proposed by the Greens to provide extra clean job opportunities, both in construction and maintenance, but TAFE will be essential to provide the skilled workers in these areas.
When it comes to policy nowhere could the divide between Labor and the Liberal/National Party Government in Sydney and in Canberra be more obvious than in education.
The Liberals have an obsession with private sector profits, with making our children, and their parents, pay huge amounts for what is a basic right – the right to affordable quality education, from early childhood through TAFE to university and beyond, if that’s where people want to go.
As someone who has raised five boys, I know how important a good education is to prepare them for getting a good job and career path.
Liberal cuts to TAFE and fee increases, at a time of rising local unemployment, make absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Labor is the party that supports strong public education. In Government we will:
- Demand that Tony Abbott reinstates the hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for our schools under the Gonski reforms;
- Oppose Mr Abbott’s plan for $100,000 degrees.
- Immediately reverse Liberal fee increases, administrative cuts and privatisation plans for our TAFE and inject an extra $100 million into the system.
- Commission a comprehensive review of education and training in NSW after Year 10 with an action plan to develop TAFE into a world leader.
- Spend an extra $100 million to renovate schools and replace demountable classrooms with permanent facilities, including 21 demountables in high schools in this region.
- Allocate an additional $9.5 million to train 200 specialist maths and science primary school teachers.
It is Christian Democratic party policy to support parents choices of education for their children as we recognise their primary responsibility for the training of their children towards independent and responsible adulthood.
We therefore support the introduction of education vouchers which would spread tax payers resources more equitably across all parental choices of education.
Our parliamentarians Fred Nile and Paul Green have successfully achieved the allocation of federal funds for chaplaincy programmes in spite of the education minister's opposition to chaplains and personal preference for psychologists.
This same education minister had changed the opt out requirement for special religious education to an opt in system which is contrary to existing law and through the consistent vigilance of our parliamentarians this is in the process of being reversed to its proper position.
We oppose the safe school program which, under the guise of an anti -bullying program, aims at encouraging high school students to explore and choose their own sexuality.
Apart from the fact we believe that sexuality is a gift for heterosexual monogamous marriage only, we do not believe that it furthers academic achievements if students are to be side-tracked by issues which at their time of life are a little premature.
We also believe that sex education is a matter for the home, not the school.
WE WERE proud to be the first state to sign the Gonski Agreement, which would provide $789million in additional funding to non-government schools over six years, including $321million from the NSW Government.
The Baird government has budgeted for the NSW contribution for Years 5 and 6 of the Gonski Agreement — fully funding NSW’s share of $1.76billion in additional funding for all schools over the full six years of the agreement.
The Baird government believes the Gonski Agreement is an important reform and should be fully implemented, and we’ll continue to put pressure on the Commonwealth to do so.
Local schools in Bega have already benefited from this funding.
In terms of the region's youth, we are committed to driving jobs growth and creating more opportunities for young people through initiatives like Reskilling NSW, which will make it free for 200,000 disadvantaged young people to go to TAFE.
* NEXT WEEK: Transparency in government.
