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NOVEMBER 2 2012 ISSUE 112
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FUNDING CUTS The future of the Environmental Defenders Office of NSW is in doubt after the State Government slashed funds for the legal centre, which provides advice to communities across the state on environmental law issues. With no gurantee that funding will continue beyond March 2013, Executive Director, Jeff Smith, is concerned the centre will be forced to close.
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DIRTY SCHOOLS Local Fine Arts students are concerned about the impact of TAFE funding cuts on Marrickville’s creative industries.
Is the price right?
Cleaning hours reduced in schools PAGE 4
Arts students could be priced out of TAFE courses VANESSA WATSON
M
arrickville is renowned for its artisitc community, but arts students are concerned that without State Government funding for Fine Arts courses at TAFE, fewer budding artists will be given the opportunity to develop their talents. Earlier this year the State Government announced that the courses would no longer be subsidised, which is expected to increase the cost for students and potentially make the courses unviable.
Dulwich Hill’s Penny Ryan, who is three years into a four-year advanced fi ne arts diploma specialising in print making at Meadowbank TAFE, said that students want clarity as to what the courses will cost next year. “The government believes TAFE should be ‘user pays’, yet TAFE has always been about access,” Ms Ryan said. “It’s November and they still haven’t announced the actual prices for January. We think that the prices are going to be completely prohibitive, we think it’s going to be $8,000 to $10,000 to do a diploma.” Education Minister Andrew Piccoli said that
while “we know that any increases in fees are hard on households”, from 2013, TAFE NSW will be applying a commercial fee to students who enrol in a fi ne arts course. “Th is will apply to courses such as visual arts, ceramics and sculpture as they are low jobs growth areas,” Mr Piccoli said. Marrickville MP, Carmel Tebutt, said charging commercial rates for fi ne arts students would price those courses beyond the reach of ordinary people. “These cuts will decimate our vocational education system and make no sense,”Ms Tebbutt said.
NEXT STOP Stage one of train station is now open PAGE 5
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