Causley dismisses Macklin’s comments as ‘politics’
Yesterday’s visit to Ballina High School by the Deputy Leader of the Federal Labor Party, Jenny Macklin, proved that the Labor Party was more interested in playing politics than helping to establish an Australian Technical College (ATC) for Northern Rivers students, Federal Nationals Member for Page, Ian Causley, said.
Mr Causley said that Ms Macklin’s claim that Ballina High School’s application to run the college failed because of the Federal Government’s industrial relations changes was both false and ridiculous.
“Australian Technical Colleges will employ tradespeople to impart skills training – not school teachers – and are totally separate from high schools,” Mr Causley said.
“The college will be run by a local board that will identify training needs in the community and lead interested students into training for those identified vacancies. The college board would be funded to run the college with the assistance of local industries.
“The idea of the college, therefore, is to give students those industry-identified jobs – not simply education or training.”
Mr Causley said the crux of the issue was that the State Labor Government, for purely political reasons, was trying to block this college going ahead because Labor and the unions don’t want ATC employees offered the opportunity to take up an Australian Workplace Agreement (AWA), even though AWAs are already available to TAFE teachers.
“That’s the frustrating thing here. The Federal Government is not making AWAs compulsory for ATC staff; they will simply have the option of an AWA or an award. Labor is trying to prevent these staff having some choice, even though those staff would have the ability to earn a higher income from performance-based pay,” he said.
“Labor seems to be running its own socialist agenda where they think that everyone should continue to be paid the same money, regardless of their performance.
“In addition, the State Labor Government would dearly love to get its hands on this Federal funding to waste it in Sydney, instead of targeting skills training here on the Northern Rivers. We haven’t forgotten what State Labor did with roads funding, which is why that funding now goes directly to local councils.”
