THE Boating Industry Association of Victoria (BIAV) is looking to become an education provider in a bid to save the state’s boatbuilding and shipwrights trades from sinking.
The move comes as Labor lodges about 30,000 petitions in State Parliament against the $300million TAFE funding cuts by the Baillieu government.
Before Victoria University axed its boatbuilding course at Newport, it received $3.4million Labor funding to relocate the course to Seaworks at Williamstown. Those plans fell through, supposedly due to a decline in enrolments.
VU says next year’s budget will be cut by $32million.
The Weekly has seen dozens of testimonials sent to the BIAV in support of the continuation of the VU’s boatbuilding courses due to terminate at year’s end. The testimonials come from many Hobsons Bay businesses and from as far as South Australia and Tasmania.
BIAV grants liaison officer Ben Scullin said Gordon TAFE in Geelong had developed a business case which indicated the cost of picking up boatbuilding was $700,000.
So his association approached Manufacturing Minister Richard Dalla-Riva and Higher Education and Skills Minister Peter Hall for support with the Gordon TAFE proposal.
“The Manufacturing Minister’s basically ignored us,” Mr Scullin said.
“The Higher Education and Skills Minister basically said it’s incumbent on industry; it’s a private issue basically.”
After the Gordon TAFE case fell through, Mr Scullin said boatbuilding apprentices had abandoned ship. He said unless boatbuilding continued to be taught in Victoria, apprentices would have to go interstate, change trades or become unskilled labour. Victoria’s marine industry is worth about $2 billion a year. “We have the same impact on the economy as Melbourne Airport. Now, that’s gone.
“You won’t be able to fix your boat because it will become prohibitively expensive.
“You just won’t be able to build boats in Victoria unless they’re special one-offs and you won’t be able to grow businesses here.”
Mr Scullin said the association had been forced to come up with short and long-term solutions to save the boatbuilding trade. “The short-term [solution] was to stop the hemorrhaging of apprentices. So we’re in talks with a training provider to become an auspiced training provider, so we’re going to employ a teacher.”
Mr Scullin said there could be three boatbuilding campuses. “There’s a New Zealand training model for boatbuilding that’s the best in the world and they split the training between wood and composites and aluminium.”
Government spokesman James Martin said boatbuilding would benefit from the government putting an extra $1billion into training over the next four years.
“Boatbuilding is one area that will benefit from this increased funding, with subsidies for certificate III in marine construction, certificate III in boating services, certificate IV in engineering and certificate IV in boating services all increasing by up to 12 per cent.”
Asked where boatbuilding students could enrol next year, Mr Martin did not respond.
Williamstown MP Wade Noonan said VU had cut boatbuilding and about 40 other courses as a result of losing a third of its government funding.
“There’s no doubt that the boatbuilding industry is staring down the barrel because of the Baillieu government’s TAFE cuts.”
Mr Noonan yesterday lodged in Parliament a petition signed by nearly 700 constituents opposed to TAFE funding cuts. Statewide, 30,000 signed the petition.
