General News
18 December, 2024
Gulf TAFE is a 'white elephant', says Carpentaria Shire mayor
Jack Bawden wants the TAFE to be providing regular courses that benefit the local community.
Carpentaria Shire mayor Jack Bawden says the Gulf TAFE campus at Normanton is a “white elephant gathering dust” that costs taxpayers money to operate despite providing no training courses for the region.
He said young people wanting to study an apprenticeship were unable to receive training at the Gulf campus, forcing business owners to pay to relocate them to larger cities at great expense.
Cr Bawden said TAFE Queensland must urgently review its operational plan for the campus to start providing tangible benefits for the community.
“The TAFE in Normanton hasn’t been used for years – I just want to see the TAFE campus being utilised,” he told North West Weekly.
“We could have more apprenticeships, more training and more employment here if people didn’t have to send their young people away to Cairns or Mount Isa or Townsville to get the skills they need.
“When they are gone, they’re gone – instead of studying a day a week and working the rest of the time – they aren’t even in town anymore.
“If we had a TAFE that was working properly, we would be able to keep them here and we would be able to get a bit of productivity out of the kids and the region would benefit. It is a huge cost impost on a business to employ an apprentice and at the moment we can’t get them trained and working in the region.”
Cr Bawden said the Gulf campus currently employed a full-time manager and a casual groundskeeper but the multiple classrooms and workshop were almost permanently empty.
“Occasionally a short welding course will be offered or something that is a one-off,” he said.
“But even that course doesn’t include anything more advanced offered at a later date that would allow people to progress their skills.”
Cr Bawden said he believed that Gulf businesses were reluctant to hire apprentices because of the cost of sending young people to the bigger cities to study their theory coursework.
“It feels like we have been raising this issue with the TAFE forever,” Cr Bawden said.
“It is a white elephant at the moment – it is costing money to keep that campus and it is just sitting there gathering dust.
“We have been battling for apprenticeship study blocks to be taught in our region – it is hampering the economic growth of businesses and the region.
“If we had a TAFE operating in the Gulf it would attract people from Burketown, Doomadgee, Karumba, Croydon, Georgetown – people would be coming from everywhere.”
North West Weekly approached TAFE Queensland for comment but did not receive a response at time of publication.