Elsie Lange
A Hume councillor has welcomed Labor’s pledge to build a TAFE campus in Sunbury should the party retain government at the November election.
On Tuesday, November 15, Sunbury MP Josh Bull promised Labor would spend $20 to $25 million on a new campus of Bendigo Kangan Institute in Sunbury, to take up to 150 enrolments each year.
A statement from Mr Bull said the campus would focus on in-demand jobs in electrotechnology, carpentry, plumbing, nursing, education and community services with students expected to start learning in 2027.
“A new TAFE campus at Sunbury will mean better employment pathways for local kids and will save students travelling up to 40km or more to get to their next closest TAFE campus,” he said.
Jacksons Creek ward councillor Jarrod Bell said ever since the closure of the Jacksons Hill Victoria University campus, students living and working in Sunbury and the Macedon Ranges had no local options.
“In my own lived experience of traveling to university in Bundoora four to five times a week, I was faced with the option of a three-hour one-way public transport trip or a 100km round trip by car,” Cr Bell said.
“It was a significant burden on myself and my family.”
He said the costs of getting to and from higher education was a serious consideration for many in his own year level when deciding what their next steps would be after school.
“We live in one of the fastest growing corridors in Australia,” he said.
“[We] will need highly skilled tradespeople to build our future homes and community spaces, passionate educators to shape and teach our next generation as well as dedicated nurses to staff our Community Hospital and to care for those who need world class healthcare.”
The announcement came as part of a broader promise of a $170 million TAFE building blitz statewide, as well as making the training free for those who already have higher education qualifications.
