Hello, Premier Napthine

...and goodbye, Ted Baillieu. 

Our new Premier Denis Napthine's first policy announcement since taking office was a promise of $200 million over four years to alleviate the devastating Baillieu government TAFE cuts. Baillieu's funding cuts slashed $300 million per year from Victorian TAFEs, so Napthine's promise of $200 million over four years equates to $50 million per year - not nearly enough to reinstate the full service provider functions of TAFEs and certainly not enough to save courses and campuses that have already closed, or 2000 jobs that have already been lost across the state. In fact the purpose of the new funding is to assist TAFEs in "transitioning" to greater "efficiency" (read: transitioning to operating with significantly less funding). 

It may not be a very good start, but it's a message  A promise of reinstating some funding to TAFE shows that the Victorian government has heard the public backlash against the funding cuts, and has found itself compelled to act. It's not enough, but we know they're listening, and we'll keep up the fight. The opposition has already announced their plan to reinstate $170 million of funding cut from TAFE, but an election isn't on the table until November 2014, so until then, Victoria, send a message to Premier Napthine, keep voicing your support for TAFE, and maintain your art-rage!