As you know, the Victorian Government's move to privatise TAFE will inevitably lead to increased fees and costs for all TAFE students.

Victoria has made all of the funding it previously allocated to its TAFE institutes available on a competitive basis to all training providers, public and private.

This means that private providers, who cannot offer the same level of support for students as high quality TAFE institutes can, will cut corners in order to get government funding.

Victorian TAFE students will be doubly hurt. Wherever they go, their training will cost much more. But they also now run the risk of being forced into private providers to undertake their study.

It's a radical agenda and one being watched by other governments around the country.

We need to show it is the wrong path for students, for teachers and for our community.

If you want to see what can happen when education and training are largely given over to the private sector look no further than what has happened in the training of international students.

In recent months the true state of this industry has emerged. We have had revelations of private providers slashing training time to reduce costs and boost profits, neglecting the well-being of their students and failing in their duty to provide a quality education.

Many have simply gone broke and disappeared leaving their students in the lurch.

TAFEs have been asked to pick up the pieces from failed international private VET providers. But what will happen if we have the same sort of failure in the domestic market?

Victorians , young and old, cannot afford this government's short sighted attempt to privatise TAFE. It will not only cost individual students now, but the community will be paying for it for years to come.

— Posted by Angelo Gavrielatos, AEU Federal President