Political skills slip

By Paul Pickering
LIBERAL allies Nick Wakeling and Jason Wood say they are standing by their party’s Australian Technical Colleges program despite the Bracks Government’s derision.
Ferntree Gully MP Mr Wakeling took umbrage to recent comments made by Skills Minister Jacinta Allan in State Parliament, in which she claimed that the Federal Government’s investment in the resurgence of trade colleges had been “a spectacular success in increasing the number of federal bureaucrats… rather than having actual students benefit from additional resources in the area of technical education”.
With a major campus of the ATC East Melbourne facility under construction at St Joseph’s College in Ferntree Gully, Mr Wakeling regarded the comments as an insult to his constituents.
Most perplexing for Mr Wakeling, though, was the apparent about-face that the State Government had taken on the merit of technical college facilities being championed by the Federal Government.
“Minister Allan is at odds with her Labor colleagues,” he said, pointing to comments made by former Skills Minister Lynne Kosky in the Mail in January 2006.
Then, Ms Kosky said: “This is good for industry, good for our economy, good for our schools and great for young people.”
Mr Wakeling said: “The State Minister should apologise to the St Joseph’s school community for her misinformed comments.”
His federal ally, Mr Wood, added that it was important for all levels of government to work together in addressing the nation’s pressing skills shortage.
“It’s a shame that Minister Allan lacks the ability to embrace good ideas put forward by the Howard Government,” he said.
The Mail contacted Ms Allan to give her the opportunity to explain her comments but she did not respond before the Mail went to print.