A majority Hodgman Liberal Government will create a job ready generation by extending all Tasmanian high schools to year 12 within a decade of gaining office.

We do not believe it is acceptable for Tasmania to have the lowest year 12 (or equivalent) completion rate of any state in Australia. Currently only 58 per cent of young Tasmanians complete year 12 or earn an equivalent trade qualification.

Even more disturbing is that only 34 per cent of students complete year 12 within the expected two year timeframe of having completed year 10.

Meanwhile ABS statistics show shockingly, that only around half of Tasmanians are considered to be functionally literate – that is, have the reading skills needed to cope with the demands of everyday life and work.

The Liberals are not prepared to stand by and let this status-quo go unchallenged. Tasmanian students deserve better than a system that has entrenched the belief that secondary school finishes at year 10.

With around 86 per cent of jobs requiring a post year 10 qualification we are doing the next generation a terrible disservice if we don’t genuinely encourage them to complete year 12 as a minimum educational outcome.

It is no coincidence that Tasmania is the only state where high school finishes at year 10 and that we are also the state with the lowest year 12 completion rates in the nation.

However, there is a more conclusive link. An extensive 2010 review of Catholic Secondary Education in Tasmania concluded a secondary education system from year 7-12 was the most effective way of improving retention rates and educational outcomes. The review found in regions of the state where Catholic secondary schools operated under a year 7-12 model, year 12 retention was nearly 20 per cent higher than regions where Catholic secondary schools finished at year 10.

It is important to point out that such a substantial but necessary reform won’t happen overnight – and after a succession of Labor’s quick-fix “solutions” that haven’t worked, it is important that we take our time to consult and get it right at the local level. That is why we are calling this a decade long reform.

We will begin the process by expanding vocational, year 11 and year 12 subjects in rural and regional high schools, and then move gradually to the larger population centres.

We are not proposing a one-size-fits-all model. While we are firm in our commitment to extend all high school to year 12, we will be flexible in our approach.

We are committed to consulting with each and every school community, parents, teachers and education stakeholders on this vital reform so that the final model reflects local needs and challenges, and has broad local support.

Consultation with local school communities will include the high school, its feeder primary schools, neighbouring high schools and the nearest college. This approach will ensure that all issues, voices and possibilities are properly heard and considered. This will allow the local community to arrive at its own solutions with government support. This is the Liberal way: leading the reform agenda and empowering community at the grassroots level.

We anticipate that technology such as broadband internet will have a major role to play in delivering on our commitment. The Education Department already offers some VET, year 11 and 12 subjects via e-learning methods and has indicated that theoretically there is ‘no limitation’ to subjects that can be delivered via e-learning.

In fact the Liberals’ policy is a natural but much needed extension of what is already occurring to a limited extent. Providing a greater range of year 11, 12 and VET subjects, and to all high schools, is both achievable and vital in order to improve our extremely low year 12 completion rates.

As prominent economist Saul Eslake has noted, Tasmania’s most persistent economic problem is the fact that our productivity is around 10 per cent below the national average, resulting in lower skills, lower wages and lower living standards.

Eslake also notes that productivity could be substantially lifted if we increased our year 12 completion rates.

This is supported by research which shows that increasing educational attainment has a direct impact on productivity and participation rates. Put simply the higher the education level of the population the healthier the economy.

By investing in increasing educational outcomes, we are investing in our future economic prosperity and providing extra protection against future economic downturns.

To show we are serious we have already budgeted for a $60 million Education Investment and School Retention Fund. This fund keeps open the schools that Labor and the Greens want to close and will allow us to begin the implementation process of extending high schools to year 12. It is also an acknowledgement that some schools may require new infrastructure.

Finally, contrary to the scaremongering of the Greens and Labor we will not close colleges. They have an important role to play in ensuring we can start to offer families a real choice. Some colleges may well remain as specialist year 11 and 12 institutions, others might become 9-12 and still others might become 7-12 high schools. We will consult widely to ensure that any changes to colleges are in the best interest of students.

The fundamental values that underpin this much-needed policy include a strong belief that the structure of our education system must be made to fit in with the needs of the Tasmanian community – not the other way around.

Today, Will Hodgman officially released the Liberals’ Future Directions 3 – Delivering the Essential Business of Government.

This important directions document outlines how a majority Liberal Government will refocus the State Service on the essential services Tasmanians expect and deserve – health, education, public safety, and critical infrastructure.

In Government we will cut the luxuries Labor and the Greens have allowed to blow out, and instead refocus taxpayer funds on providing the essentials.

It is about having the right size public service that Tasmania can afford, and that delivers for Tasmanians.

Labor and the Greens have wrecked the budget with the Premier admitting a $1 billion over-spend, which means we no longer have funding to spend on the less essential aspects of Government business.

We need to cut our cloth to suit the times.

However, unlike Labor and the Greens, we won’t be sacking frontline staff in areas such as health, education, and public safety.

For example, we will put doctors and nurses before the state architect, teachers before wi-fi on buses and police officers before $40 million a year on consultants.

We value the important work public servants do, and in Government we will look to establish a true working partnership with them.

While the Liberals will take a strong suite of policies to the next election which we expect the state service to implement, we also understand that public servants have a lot of expertise and ideas of their own.

From day one, we will listen to and formally engage with all – from the mailroom to management, on ways to increase efficiencies and provide better service delivery to Tasmanians.

A majority Liberal Government will also:

• Investigate amalgamating backroom corporate functions where sensible to do so (such as IT) in order to drive further efficiencies
• Bring decision making back to Government by reducing the number of unelected boards and consultancies.
• Create a sustainable public sector by putting in place measures to avoid unchecked blow-outs in the size and cost of the public sector

To review our Future Directions statements click here.

An email to Skills Institute staff by Chair James Cretan reveals the Board of the Skills lnstitute supports a move to a single entity, a view which is consistent with the long term position of the Liberal party.

In the email Mr Cretan confirms the contents of a submission to the VET review, acknowledging :

‘the current public VET arrangements are fragmented and inefficient,’

that ‘Tasmania needs a single, robust provider of public VET’, and

(that it must be) ‘a focused, efficient and a fit for purpose statutory authority’ that is ‘uncompromisingly industry led’.

When even one of the Government’s own VET providers knows a split system hasn’t worked and calls for a single entity – why isn’t the Minister listening?

The Liberals have identified that by removing inefficient management structures and duplication created by a split system, efficiencies in the order of $30 million could be made over the forward estimates which could be used to secure teachers and courses.

Instead Mr McKim has squandered the past two years fiddling around the edges, allowing things to get worse. Now he seems content to sack VET teachers and reduce courses to try and fix his budget mess.

In contrast a majority Hodgman Liberal Government would move to a single entity – a modern day TAFE which would be more responsive to the needs of industry and achieve much needed efficiencies without throwing teachers and courses on the scrap heap.

The Liberals’ vision is for a Tasmania with a growing economy that generates the wealth and prosperity to create jobs and fund essential services like health, education and public safety. A Tasmania where we stand on our own two feet, and where we are not dependent on hand-outs and bail-outs from the rest of the country.

A key part of this vision is our plan to support and build the five pillars of Tasmania’s Future Economy – Resources, Agriculture and Fisheries, Energy, Education and Technology, and Tourism.

Unlike Labor and the Greens, a Liberal Government will not pick winners, look for silver bullets, or worse still, shut industries down.

Rather, by strengthening these Five Pillars, which will underpin the health of our future economy, other sectors in our economy will benefit and grow, such as retailing, manufacturing, the service economy, property and construction – as will the critical small business sector, which is the engine room of our economy.

Some of the specific policies we will implement include:

• Rip up the forestry deal and provide resource security in forestry
• Provide full electricity competition and carbon free power to make Tasmania the most competitive place to do business
• Extend all high schools to year 12
• Fight for a nationally funded Basslink II to harness our renewable energy advantage
• Invest in new renewable energy capacity
• Aim for 1.5 million visitors to the State each year
• Say “yes” rather than “no” to tourism developments
• Free Tourism Tasmania from its bureaucratic straitjacket
• Back bio-energy and bio-fuels
• Work with the University of Tasmania to attract more international students
• Oppose the lock-up of the Tarkine
• Leverage off our brand to grow our agricultural sector
• Support the family farm
• Encourage investment in on-farm renewable energy
• Create Biosecurity Tasmania to protect our borders
• Oppose new Marine Protected Areas

To review our Future Directions statements and the speech Will Hodgman gave to the TICT click here.

Expect to hear more about our positive plans for the future of Tasmania throughout 2012.

Mr McKim might be happy with Tasmania having a year 12 or equivalent completion rate of 58 per cent – we’re not.

The Government has also conveniently failed to acknowledge in its latest Tasmanian Skills Strategy report card that a staggeringly low 34 per cent of students complete year 12 within the expected two years of finishing year 10.

These poor statistics show the very reason why Tasmanian high schools need to go to year 12: too many of our talented young people are falling through the cracks of a fragmented system and face poorer life outcomes as a result.

A majority Hodgman Liberal Government will create a job ready generation by extending all high schools to year 12 within a decade of gaining office. In addition to keeping existing colleges open, we will work with regional and remote communities as a priority and extend their high schools from year 10 to year 12 first.

It is no coincidence that we are the only state where high school finishes at year 10 and we have the lowest year 12 completion rates in the nation. Tasmanian students deserve better than a system that has entrenched the belief that secondary education ends at year 10.

A recent survey of over 4400 Tasmanians found the majority do not have confidence in Tasmania’s education system, with nearly 60 per cent keen for high schools to be extended to year 12.

With around 86 per cent of jobs requiring a post year 10 qualification we are doing the next generation a disservice if we do not genuinely encourage them to complete year 12 at a minimum.

The Greens and Labor have an agenda to close schools and slash education funding in contrast the Liberals have created a $60 million Education Investment and School Retention Fund to begin the essential process of extending high schools to year 12.