24 June 2026

Mr GAFFNEY (Mersey) - I rise on adjournment to highlight the harm in making $45 million worth of cuts to TasTAFE, cuts that will mean the loss of 12 courses and at least 44 jobs. The recent debate, however, has focused on the loss of nine courses relating to the arts, a move that appears to align with the view from the government that arts courses outside of UTAS have no value, an abhorrent decision that's been widely and rightfully criticised.

The remainder is the loss of three courses relating to meat safety and laboratory operations. The minister has stated; he has had no choice but to kill off the meat safety in the nine creative courses at the end of last year. That leaves us with a Certificate 4 in laboratory techniques and the diploma of laboratory technology. The trouble is that the 14 affected students in these two courses will be taught out by the end of the year and then both courses will cease to be.

To highlight the importance of these courses I heard from Margie Law who is deeply concerned about their loss, which would undermine the need of key industries including technically skilled staff for pathology services and analytical laboratories and for UTAS, college and school science departments and government departments that rely on these services. Since it came to light that the laboratory operations courses will be cut entirely, Margie stated; [tbc 10.16 p.m.]

I read the reporting about the wait time for elective surgery. ABC report by Josh Duggan, the 9th of June 2026. I already knew this. It is common knowledge and is not just a long wait for public surgery. Private surgeons can have a long wait time also. I know people have gone interstate to get surgery done, but what shocked me in the article was that a woman who had a double mastectomy was told she might have to wait six to 10 weeks for pathology results. This is incredible, shocking. I hope you agree it's not good enough.

The same article reported the Department of Health were committed to improving timely access to pathology and was in the process of recruiting four additional full time pathologist positions, which is good to know, but will they have the skilled staff teams to support their work? Margie wrote;

When I met with Dr Norman Baker, the CEO of TasTAFE, at my daughter's Certificate 4 graduation in March this year, he told me that the lab tech courses were cut because TAFE had their budget cut and the lab tech courses do not fit the priority areas of health and high vis vest jobs. Despite my arguments that pathology is health, he stuck to his position. People working in labs might not care directly for patients, but their work cares for patients and is essential work. It is a furphy to say laboratory tech is not essential to health.

Margie further impressed that;

There were so many options for the minister and the TAFE CEO in looking for budget cuts or efficiency. Cutting the only two science courses in the state that are not university level is not clever. Cutting the only two technical science courses in the state is not clever. Claiming that laboratory technicians are not health workers is not clever.

As we know, the Tasmanian healthcare system is under more pressure than ever before and significant government spending cuts in the budget can only increase this pressure with no hope of relief. Margie's correspondence went on to say;

Regular Tasmanians are waiting for six to 10 weeks for important pathology results because our health system is falling short of normal community expectations. Or, like my work colleague and like my partner, they go interstate to pay for timely medical assistance and test results. I must ask how the decision was made in the face of this obvious growing demand for people with technical skills in laboratory operations.

Of course, it does not have to be this way. I will close with some of the suggestions Maggie proposed in her email;

If you want young Tasmanians to be employed to run the tests in our health system, we need these courses. The course is also needed for any high school and college to run science classes. Science teachers need lab technicians. It is not too late. The lab is still there at TAFE, fully stocked with machines and chemicals needed to learn. The teachers are still there. We could just reinstall the courses beyond this year and if we do this, we could ensure all colleges know about the course, which would ensure it is well attended by young Tasmania. We could extend the labs so that more than 18 students could be enrolled. In closing, there is an increasingly loud chorus of disapproval from our community with the government and its actions. The current trajectory of TasTAFE will hurt our state, our healthcare services, our students and most of all, our community. I call upon the government to reconsider its decimation of vocational education and reinstate both laboratory operations courses. The end result is that we will have to import those professionals from the mainland to fulfil those positions because we are not offering them here in Tasmania. That is very disappointing.