Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra Gareth Ward says he is exploring options for the Dapto TAFE campus that don’t involve it being sold off.
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The political fight over the site’s future continues, after it was one of 27 sites earmarked for sale by the NSW Government in a “Cabinet in Confidence” document leaked on September 13.
Shellharbour MP Anna Watson, a staunch advocate of keeping Dapto TAFE as a provider of vocational education and training, has tabled a motion in NSW Parliament calling for the campus to be removed from the “sell-off hit list”.
At the Fowlers Road entrance to the Dapto campus last week, Ms Watson urged Mr Ward to “come clean” about the site’s future.
‘‘This state Liberal government has gutted this TAFE like a bluefin tuna - enough is enough,’’ she said.
Mr Ward has since met with Minister for Skills John Barilaro.
“I am seeking to explore other options for that TAFE campus, which don’t involve its sale and may involve its use by other government providers,” he said.
The Liberal MP said Ms Watson was “deliberately misleading” the public about the site’s viability.
“It’s wrong to waste public money staffing buildings when there aren’t any students and when students are electing to go elsewhere, it should be up to students to chose their pathway,” he said.
“The claim that this [the potential sale] is somehow a clandestine move by the government is just wrong.”
Mr Ward said the campus’ eight students had recently finished their studies and only administrators remained on-site.
“Having a TAFE campus manned but with no students is almost as silly as having a hospital manned without patients,” he said. ‘‘What the Labor Party are suggesting is we should continue to man a TAFE college when students are choosing to go to Yallah and Shellharbour.”
Ms Watson cautiously noted that a decision was yet to be made about the sale of the campus.
“I will be far more comfortable with the government’s words ... when I actually see it written in blood that the Dapto TAFE campus has been struck from the sell-off hit list,” she said.
Ms Watson’s motion noted the campus had 658 enrolled students and 111 staff during 2010, the last year of the previous Labor government.
