By Corey Everitt
A local resident and former principal is calling out Cardinia Shire Council’s lack of action toward local TAFE facilities, highlighting dwindling opportunities for locals to pursue vital trades.
At least 3000 people are studying a vocation in Cardinia, many travelling out of the shire.
While Casey and Greater Dandenong have the Chisholm Institute and Federation University and Warragul has Gippsland TAFE, Cardinia has only a few small providers.
The Gazette received a letter from local, Ian Chisholm who has seen first-hand how this has increasingly disadvantaged local students and is calling for the council to campaign for tech schools to be built locally.
A retired principal who led many South East schools, he was also previously a part of efforts to inspect potential sites for higher education providers throughout Berwick, Cranbourne, Dandenong and Pakenham.
Unfortunately, he has found Pakenham to be the least enthusiastic to bring TAFE local.
“The Shire of Cardinia does not have a university or TAFE Campus, Tech School or Specialist STEM Centre but does anyone really care?” Chisholm said.
He is a longtime volunteer for the Cardinia Environment Coalition (CEC), which has a particular concern for vocational training as they have hosted various horticultural courses at Deep Creek Reserve.
While many TAFE courses and pathways have been made free in Victoria, Mr Chisholm says how the lack of facilities has disadvantaged locals.
For instance, there is a range of free STEM short courses available for local students to begin their vocation while completing high school. The nearest facilities are Monash and Casey Tech Schools.
“They are hosted by tertiary institutions so, under the current arrangements, the Shire of Cardinia will never have a Tech School,” Mr Chisholm said.
“Furthermore, the Tech Schools must give priority to schools in their municipality; students enrolled at Shire of Cardinia schools cannot participate in programs at Casey Tech.”
Some schools will provide on-site training, travelling to schools and through a handful of specialist STEM centres. The CEC argued for one centre to be established in Cardina, but Mr Chisholm said the effort was unsuccessful.
Fortunately, for the past six years. Deep Creek attracted Econlinc, a STEM centre based in the West of Melbourne.
In that time they have provided an on-site environmental studies program one day a week, with schools from as far as Trafalgar attending with their travel fees covered.
Unfortunately, Mr Chisholm says the chances for the possible expansion of this program are ‘receding’ and its renewed funding for 2025 has ‘yet to be approved’.
“Volunteers at the Deep Creek Indigenous Nursery have had difficulties accessing courses in Horticulture, Landscaping and Turf Management, because at least two providers have recently cancelled courses in these study areas,” Mr Chisholm said.
“Surely a peri-urban Council with new housing estates, but still identified as part of Melbourne’s Inner Food Bowl, should be interested in filling the gaps left by those providers?”
He thinks the matter should be of concern to residents, yet worries the issue will be swept under the rug.
“Candidates at the forthcoming council elections seem to be ignoring the issue, probably because it is essentially a state government matter,” Mr Chisholm said.
“That did not stop the City of Berwick from playing a pro-active role in securing a university for Berwick.
“They promoted the idea of an Education Precinct and identified potential sites. Council obtained data from schools, which demonstrated the levels of disadvantage experienced by local students; they gained widespread community support through public meetings and direct approaches to influential local organisations.
“The Education Precinct at Berwick now contains a university, a selective High School, a TAFE College and Casey Tech School.”
Recently, the council made a submission responding to the State Government’s proposed planning strategy Plan Victoria which is set to replace Plan Melbourne (2017-2050).
Within the submission, the council says there is an opportunity for an ‘industry training institute’ in Officer South and called for the State Government’s ‘strategic intent and need’ for the facility.
According to Federal Government estimates, around half of occupations within trade and technician roles were experiencing persistent shortages in 2023.
Last year, the State Government announced six new Tech Schools at Brimbank, Dandenong, Frankston, Hume, Wangaratta and Warrnambool, to be operational by 2026.
“Victoria’s TAFE network offers high-quality training across the state, including in outer metro suburbs and the regions, to help more Victorians get the skills they need to move into the job they want,” a spokesperson for the State Government said.
“We’ve invested more than $4.6 billion in TAFE since 2014 – rebuilding our nation-leading TAFE system after the former Liberal government sacked more than 2000 TAFE teachers, shut 22 TAFE campuses and ripped $1 billion from TAFEs across Victoria.”
With the possibility of fulfilling a growing need for skilled workers, there is an opportunity for councils to bid for their own local providers. Mr Chisholm hopes Cardinia pushes for a local expansion.
“Politicians are aware of the issues listed above but say their Budget bids have been unsuccessful,” he said.
“Regrettably that has been the case for the past 30 years! Let’s hope that Council and community will take steps to ensure that we do not wait another 30 years to resolve problems of educational disadvantage in the Shire of Cardinia.”
Cardinia Shire Council was contacted for comment.
