{"id":224803,"date":"2018-12-05T17:18:55","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T07:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=224803"},"modified":"2018-12-05T17:19:26","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T07:19:26","slug":"ag-college-closures-betraying-the-bush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/12\/05\/ag-college-closures-betraying-the-bush\/","title":{"rendered":"Ag College Closures ‘Betraying The Bush’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LNP Opposition Leader and Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 5, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

A State Government decision to close Queensland\u2019s remaining agricultural colleges at the end of 2019 has drawn an angry response from Opposition leader Deb Frecklington.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Mark Furner announced the two remaining Queensland Agricultural Training Colleges (QATC) – in Longreach and Emerald – would be axed after a review by Professor Peter Coaldrake.<\/p>\n

Mr Furner said declining enrolments at both colleges had been a factor in the decision.<\/p>\n

Mrs Frecklington said she thought it was astonishing a $23 billion industry that supports 300,000 Queensland jobs would not have a single training college left in the State.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“More than 100 people are set to lose their jobs when the colleges at Emerald and Longreach close, and a generation of young country people will lose valuable opportunities to forge careers in farming,” Mrs Frecklington said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“Labor has now closed ag colleges in Burdekin, Dalby, Longreach and Emerald.<\/p>\n

“This year Queenslanders everywhere came together to support farmers battling the drought but Annastacia Palaszczuk doesn\u2019t give a damn about the bush.<\/p>\n

“Her government is just piling on more misery for drought-stricken communities.<\/p>\n

“Our ag colleges were once the best in the Australia but Labor have been deliberately running them down.”<\/p>\n

Mrs Frecklington said the government had axed local control of the colleges and rejected scholarship plans put forward by the industry.<\/p>\n

“The colleges have been bound up in red tape and run incompetently from Brisbane, and now Labor has finally succeeded in killing them off,” Mrs Frecklington said.<\/p>\n

“But while our ag colleges are being axed, colleges in other States like NSW, Victoria and Western Australia are booming.”<\/p>\n

Shadow Agriculture Minister Tony Perrett said the closure of the colleges was a tragedy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“You would think closing these colleges would be the last thing on the Premier’s mind, given rural Queensland has the highest unemployment rate in Australia and a chronic skills shortage,” Mr Perrett said.<\/p>\n

“We should be doing more to encourage young Queenslanders to stay in the regions, learn a skill and get a decent job.<\/p>\n

“My heart also goes out to all of the QATC staff going who are now facing an uncertain future right before Christmas.”<\/p>\n

Ms Frecklington said the Coaldrake Review which recommended the closures was an exercise in privatisation by stealth.<\/p>\n

“The answer isn\u2019t closure, the answer is making sure the model is right for student needs in the 21st century,” Mrs Frecklington said.<\/p>\n

“Today\u2019s decision is on the back of the axed School to Industry Partnership Program and Labor\u2019s anti-farmer vegetation laws.<\/p>\n

“Labor is betraying the bush and Mark Furner is now officially Australia\u2019s worst Agriculture Minister.”<\/p>\n

LNP Member for Gregory Lachlan Millar said the news was a devastating blow to the Longreach and Emerald communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Closing these colleges is more proof that Labor does not rule for the regions and doesn\u2019t care about struggling rural communities,” Mr Millar said.<\/p>\n

“These communities will be devastated by this decision and I urge them to fight this with me.”<\/p>\n

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