Training cuts threat to 7000 jobs

ALMOST 7000 jobs will be lost in Victoria and $400m cut from vocational training after the budget cuts, projections show.

ALMOST 7000 jobs will be lost in Victoria and $400 million cut from vocational training in the wake of the state government budget cuts, projections from private and public colleges show.

The Australian Council for Private Education and Training has warned that its members would shed up to 20 per cent or 4800 of their 24,000-strong Victorian workforce as a result of last month's cuts.

Chief executive Claire Field said this was a conservative estimate and only reflected losses among the ACPET's 300 Victorian members.

About 400 private colleges offer state government-funded training.

The Victorian TAFE Association has predicted the loss of almost 2000 jobs by early next year. Three TAFEs have announced retrenchments.

If the projections are correct, Victorian college redundancies would dwarf those in manufacturing and aviation, matching the worst predictions of job losses across Australia's entire banking sector.

A spokesman for Victorian Skills Minister Peter Hall said the ACPET had overstated the cuts. He said there was no doubt private colleges would "feel the pinch", but that they would be able to adapt because of their relatively low overheads.

However, federal Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans called the cuts "stupid" and tipped a backbench revolt, especially in regional areas with few alternatives to TAFE training.

"I think some members of the Baillieu government will start to change their minds when they see campuses closing, courses being ceased, job losses in their areas and whole communities affected," Senator Evans told The Australian yesterday after meeting teachers and union representatives in Melbourne.

He said the cuts threatened a national training agreement worth $435m to Victoria over five years, and that he had made it clear to Victoria "our support is contingent on them maintaining their training effort".

But Senator Evans also said he didn't want to take any action that would further undermine Victoria's training system.