“The time for rhetoric is over,” says Mayor Khal Asfour.
He told the council that Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been spruiking long and loud about how the key to our economic recovery will be on the back of a skills-led resurgence, and he’s right “on the money”, but what we need is action – “a committed investment and promotion of our largest and oldest vocational education institutions”.
With building and infrastructure projects being delayed or exceeding budgets because of a lack of skilled workers, like builders, sparkies, plumbers and tilers, the Mayor says more facilities and student positions are needed to meet the ever-growing demand.
“The past decade paints a pretty grim picture of what is happening in TAFEs across the country and more importantly closer to home – here in our City, Canterbury Bankstown,” he said.
“Our City is crying out for a commitment from both State and Federal governments to further invest, not only in the Bankstown and Padstow facilities but to look at developing another facility to meet our culturally diverse and growing population.
“Just look at the compelling statistics – last month we had something like 23,200 people on Jobseeker, there are pockets in our city that have a low socioeconomic standing and English is not spoken at home and the latest statistics showed the suburb of Lakemba has the highest number of students enrolled at TAFE.”
He says TAFE plays a vital role providing employment prospects and opportunities for all in our community – from addressing the skills shortage in key industries, to upskilling to meet emerging technologies or providing the basics like reading and writing.
