Ted’s uni shame

By KATH GANNAWAY
“TED Baillieu should head his head in shame that on his watch, one of Victoria’s most populated regions has been robbed of its higher education facilities.”
That message to the Premier was just one of many delivered during a rally at Swinburne Lilydale last week decrying the closure of the university and TAFE.
The atrium at the university was packed with students, staff, business and education leaders and members of the Yarra Ranges and wider community who later braved drenching rain to deliver a 7000-strong petition to local Liberal MP Christine Fyffe’s Lilydale office.
Mt Evelyn author Anthony McAleer, Yarra Ranges councillors Jeanette McRae and Tim Heenan, and Mount Lilydale Mercy College principal Bernard Dobson were among the speakers.
Mr McAleer was commissioned in 2005 to write a history of Swinburne in the outer east, before it was down-graded to a campus of Swinburne Hawthorn.
He delivered a scathing appraisal of the actions of Swinburne Hawthorn, saying the anger expressed by the crowd was not just about the government’s cuts to TAFE funding but about Swinburne’s accountability to the Lilydale campus.
He said it was acknowledged back in 1988 that the Hawthorn Campus was at saturation point and questioned how students from Lilydale would be accommodated.
“What has changed?” he asked. “Hawthorn still can’t expand. If they claim they can provide for students from the outer east, then where in the hell are they going to fit them?”
“Can anybody see Swinburne cutting back its high-paying international students to accommodate students from the outer east?” he added.
Mount Lilydale Mercy College principal Bernard Dobson spoke on behalf of local principals who he said had grave concerns about what the closure of the campus meant for students in the Yarra Valley.
“The number of students who take up university is lower here than in other regions of Melbourne. We need Swinburne Lilydale to continue so we can continue to address this problem,” he said.
He said they were concerned about the impact of losing vocational courses. “Hospitality, tourism and business courses are important in our area and closure will act as a disincentive for students because of the travel (to other campuses). This will impact on local jobs,” he said.
Cr Jeanette McRae urged people to put pressure on their local MPs.
“Ask all your state members to fight for you because the State Government needs to be accountable for the huge amount of money taken from the sector,” she said.
“This campus belongs to the people. It does not belong to Swinburne. If they don’t want to be here we will get another provider for this campus,” she said.
Cr Heenan said Yarra Ranges was in for the long term.
“This is about kicking young people in the backside and saying you are not worthy of having a proper education. We say you are and we are going to be in here with you for the biggest fight,” he said.
Healesville student and Swinburne Student Representative Amie Watson said the Save Our Swinburne organisers were bolstered by the support shown at the rally and determined to keep fighting.
“The number of people who came out in pouring rain and walked to Christine Fyffe’s office was overwhelming,” she said.
She said she hoped local State Government representatives, and Swinburne Vice-chancellor Linda Kristjanson, would face the students and the community at a community forum planned for September.
“Our aim is to get the people there who can provide answers,” she said.