TAFE Illawarra Institute management have been caught out misleading the community about the purchase of meat products for students in its butchery course at West Wollongong TAFE campus.
The revelations came after a response to questions was quietly tabled last week following 2017-18 Budget Estimates Committee hearings as part of the skills portfolio.
During the Wollongong by-election, it was suggested by Wollongong MP, Paul Scully, Shadow Minister for Skills, Prue Car MP, and NSW TAFE Federation representatives that there wasn’t enough money to purchase meat required for butchery students to practice on.
TAFE Illawarra Institute management refuted those claims on 24 August 2016 by suggesting it was:
“…extremely disappointing that we have false claims made about TAFE NSW courses without checking with us.”
When asked “On what date were meat products used in the Illawarra Mercury photograph in the article titled “Union ‘cooked up’ meat claims”…purchased?”, the Government responded:
TAFE NSW encountered difficulties in its attempts to reconcile with certainty the specific small meat purchase in question against the relevant 2016 purchase order.
In other words, TAFE Illawarra Institute management has been caught out misleading the community.
Comments attributable to Prue Car MP:
“The Liberals legacy when it comes to TAFE is dire. Courses cut, teachers sacked and fees through the roof.
“The Government can’t spin their way out of the fact that they are cutting TAFE to the bone and this is hurting colleges right across NSW including Wollongong.
“NSW Labor wants to restore public funding to TAFE so that students can get the skills they need for the future.”
Comments attributable to Paul Scully MP:
“In attempting to cover-up the impact of TAFE cuts in the Illawarra, the Government has been forced to finally admit that what Prue Car, TAFE Federation representatives and I said last August, was absolutely spot on.
“This Government’s cuts to TAFE in the Illawarra are having widespread impact on students and courses.
“In the case of butchery at West Wollongong campus, TAFE didn’t have the money to purchase meat products just as we said it didn’t at the time.”
