Blog FeedYou can tell he’s lying, his lips are moving
So the Shadow Minister for Employment Services and Training, Anthony Albanese, was in town today at the local TAFE talking up the ALP.
I was at TAFE, it was lunch break… So I thought, why not go for a listen?
*For all you foreigners, TAFE is Tertiary and Further Education
He had a few interesting things to say, about how Labor is going to pour more funding into TAFE (which I think is a great plan, more on that later), creating new apprenticeships and making traineeships more accessable and generally trying to do something about the appalling youth unemployment rate in regional areas (for example, in my area the youth unemployment rate is over 20%)
I asked a question for you uni students, apparently Labor plans on cutting back the 25% increase in fees, and also scrapping the frankly un-Australian idea of buying places at universities.
His body language left a little to be desired though. Hell, anyone may have thought that he wasn’t being entirely truthful! Heaven forbid!
But the truth of the matter is, I will be voting Labor. All my friends are uni students and my mother is an age care nurse. See where I am coming from? My mother would get paid more for stacking shelves under the Howard goverment.
This TAFE funding boost has me interested too. I think TAFE is a great system, and it has been sorely underfunded. For example: In my town, with a 6 month wait if you want a builder, the construction department has just shut down. Is that good sense? I think not.
So you all know where my vote lies. Where do the rest of you Australians stand?
22nd September | Reply
Once I find out which of the major party’s success is most detrimental to the cause of the Greens, I guess I’ll be throwing my vote behind them, as I did in my local elections. Telling religious institutions that they can’t hire people based on their religion is silly. Allowing sex changes to be claimable on our medical welfare system is silly. Their leader is an idiot.
I steer clear of political discussions, generally, but the Greens just don’t make any sense, and don’t deserve to sit in our houses of parliament.
22nd September | Reply
I feel that TAFE is the single most underrated education system in australia. I learned more in my first six months at TAFE than I did over two years of University, AND I had more fun doing it. I feel TAFE institutes are in desparate need of more funding (especially if they’re like the one I went to), and the sooner they get it the better.
I’m going to vote Labor, but not only because of the educational changes they’ve promised. Howard has done very little good for this country. He dragged us into a war, slashed health and education funding and introduced the GST. The only reason the economy’s doing so well is because the government refuses to spend any money. That’s the only reason we have a surplus.
Besides, all that, I find it very difficult to vote for a man who reminds me so much of Mr. Sheen.
22nd September | Reply
I will also vote Labor, I really wasn’t looking forward to the 25% increase, HECS is high enough as it is.
23rd September | Reply
TAFE is definately an underrated system. It focuses more on the *practical* side of things, rather than being far too theoretical like University. Plus it teaches people how to do things like fix our washing machines and rewire our electricity.
Oh, and he does look a lot like Mr. Sheen, doesnt he? I wonder if he also would get our surfaces sparkling like new? Lets mash him down into paste and try it.
23rd September | Reply
You know, that’s not a bad idea at all…