Technical Education A Priority

The following opinion piece by AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten was published in the Sunday Herald Sun on October 29, 2006

STEVE Bracks has kicked off the Labor campaign with technical education, a shrewd reading of the community's concern about future job prospects.

Marginal seat MPs have been telling the Government that parents want technical schools brought back.

The Bracks Government's standing up for education is at a time when the refusal of the Howard Government to adequately invest in education will prove one of its most damning legacies; the skills shortage is hurting the economy and denying many Australians the opportunity to participate in the economic growth of the past 15 years.

The Howard Government's mantra for education of ``leave it to the market'' has failed Australia.

The approach of the Bracks Labor Government to education is in stark contrast.

It has turned the short-sighted policies of the Kennett government -- selling schools and slashing teacher numbers -- on their head by making education its No.1 priority with significant and targeted investment in infrastructure and personnel.

Nowhere has this been more apparent than in technical education. This Government understands many students don't want to go to university. But that should not stop them from having excellent job opportunities.

Premier Bracks recently announced that the technical wings of all government secondary schools would receive a $50 million injection to give students access to the latest equipment and skills training.

That initiative will involve building new technical wings in 30 schools and modernising equipment in all others.

As Mr Bracks said, it's the biggest project undertaken in technical education.

Schools will be eligible for grants of up to $100,000.

That investment is separate from the $32 million the Government has put into four technical education centres.

Two will open in Melbourne in 2008 and two in regional Victoria next year.

It is not only money the government is investing. It is the symbolism of this initiative that will have enormous long-term benefits for the state.

As a senior official of a blue-collar union, it has been my lament that technical education has become the poor cousin to tertiary education.

But this $50 million investment sends a strong message that a technical education -- and the jobs that follow -- are highly valued.