by Cam Lucadou-Wells
Chisholm Institute is one of four Victorian TAFEs recording a worsened underlying deficit in 2023, according to a state auditor-general’s report.
The TAFE’s deficit deepened to about $12 million, excluding one-off capital grants from the State Government.
This was up from about a $1 million deficit in 2022.
Nine of the 12 Victorian TAFEs reported a net surplus in 2023, with an overall surplus of $72 million – up $29 million from the previous year.
However the sector’s net surplus was “underpinned by capital grants received to fund campus redevelopment”, the Victorian Auditor-General Office (VAGO) reported.
“Without these grants, the sector would have had a net ($35 million) deficit from their operations, which has been a consistent trend for the last five years.”
TAFEs including Chisholm were spending at a “markedly increased” rate, and becoming increasingly dependent on fee-for-service revenue rather than government funding, the audit found.
“If the declining net deficit trend continues for these TAFEs, without effective management of expenditure or own-source revenue growth, their long-term financial sustainability is at risk.”
The Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions accepted all of the report’s recommendations.
These included for all TAFEs to “review and critically analyse their current budgeting processes”, and for TAFES work with the department to achieve balanced budgets in the future.
A Victorian Government spokesperson said the report showed the “significant work we’ve done to repair the TAFE system”.
It had launched Free TAFE courses and invested more than $4.5 billion into the system “after the former Liberal Government left it as a wreck”.
“We’re carefully considering the detail of the report, however it shows that the TAFE network is in surplus and financial performance across the network has improved.”
Opposition skills and training spokesperson Bridget Vallence said the financial viability of more than half of Victoria’s TAFEs was “under threat” because of “10 years of Labor’s mismanagement”.
“Under Labor, TAFE teachers are walking off the job, thousands of students are failing to complete courses, employers are dissatisfied, and there are widespread skills shortages.
“This independent report by the Auditor-General is scathing and further evidence Labor cannot manage TAFE in Victoria.”
