There’s been talk of a major new sporting stadium.

There’s been talk of a new performing arts centre.

There’s been a LOT of talk about a new or improved hospital and even hopes and plans for a University campus.

We live in exciting times. These are ALL great proposals, any one of which would do so much for Goulburn. The future’s looking pretty bright. But our past… not so much.

Traditionally, we haven’t been great conservators of our amenities.

Recently we ran photos of the sumptuous atmospheric Odeon Theatre. What a grand old gal she was too. Elegant, gorgeous, and bloody massive. And we knocked it down for a Drive Thru bottle-o.

And we knocked down the Hoyts for a fast food franchise.

And we sold the previous performing arts venue, the Lilac Time Hall, for  a cinema.

We mourn these things. We regret the things that we had, but weren’t able to hang on to.

We look ahead to the facilities that we might be getting and that might be just around the corner, and that’s great, but there’s something that we’re losing in our own backyard that’s disappearing before our very eyes... the Goulburn TAFE College.

I should probably disclose a few links to TAFE at this point. I worked at the College from 1990 to 1992 as a data entry computer operator, and on a couple of occasions as a casual teacher for the Certificate III in Welfare. My wife also works at TAFE - not as a teacher, but in the child care centre - but none of these thoughts or reflections are hers.

I don’t go to the College a whole lot these days, but I went with my wife to an enrolment day last year and left feeling sad. Maybe sad isn’t the word. Disappointed? Incredulous?

You see when I went there, the college had a functioning swimming pool, two sporting fields that were both big enough for games of football, four tennis courts. The classrooms were all packed and there were students everywhere.

But now…

The sporting fields are mowed, but aren’t used for sport.

The tennis courts are overgrown and, in their current state, unusable.

And the swimming pool is a neglected hole in the ground.

These facilities haven’t deteriorated due to lack of care from the staff there. On the contrary. Most feel just as annoyed that these great facilities aren’t in use. But the falling number of students, especially residential, has removed the need for urgent repair.

In times gone by there were student activities co-ordinators… people like Beth Harris and Arthur Mezups… who organised for TAFE teams to be playing in local sporting competitions. They had live music playing in the hall and a swag of on campus activities.

There was a thriving community on the campus and a great vibe, and so popular and successful was it that it incorporated a second campus where the Con is now which was home to a widely respected Fine Arts school.

Not now.

Now entire blocks aren’t in use. Perfectly good buildings have their doors locked, with dozens and dozens of classrooms just sitting there, unused. The old Homestead, which underwent a $500,000 renovation hasn’t had a student pass through it’s doors since it’s upgrade.

In its heyday, when the Argyle College of TAFE as it was then called was opened in 1978, it boasted one of the widest ranges of courses of any TAFE college in rural NSW. There were 14 different teaching schools then, but now nine of those original schools - applied electricity, art and design, engineering trades, fashion, home science, plumbing and sheet metal, secretarial studies, vehicle trades and footwear - are gone.

Some of the professions the College used to train people for included auctioneers, accountants, artists, bar persons, chefs, clerks of works, dressmakers, drainers, electricians, fitters, meat inspectors, machinists, printmakers, potters, panelbeaters, plumbers, shoemakers, screenprinters, ticket writers and waiters. Not any longer.

Goulburn has, in the TAFE College, this incredible facility, the like of which we couldn’t dream of affording if we were starting from scratch. Yet it sits there, slowly dying, with hardly an eyebrow raised. We’re losing it, not with a bang, but a whimper… and barely a whimper at that.

The problem for the Goulburn College specifically is is twofold. Firstly, course costs have dramatically increased and are way too dear. Secondly, the Goulburn College offers far too few courses to choose from.

And one of the main causes - the Smart and Skilled reforms. They were meant to open the doors for other VET providers, but if somehow that’s translated into a positive for Goulburn, then I’ve missed it.

In fact it’s hard to see who the beneficiaries of Smart and Skilled are. Goulburn isn’t. The TAFE system certainly isn’t. Possibly some private providers have done well out of it but I very much doubt more Goulburn people are better skilled or better qualified as a result.

But let me also make this point clearly. There are plenty of Labor and Liberal fingerprints on Smart and Skilled, and plenty of blame to go around. You can’t lay the blame at the feet of one without sharing it with the other and this is NOT a diatribe aimed at finding a simple culprit and shouting “j’accuse”.

What’s important from here is finding a fix.

We’ve had a lot of discussion about hospitals and roads heading into this state election, but from a Goulburn perspective… and I mean the city, not the electorate… surely ensuring the safety and recovery of the TAFE College should be paramount.

How in hell do we think we can manage some of the new facilities, amenities and infrastructure being touted for Goulburn if we can’t look after and keep the ones we have?

This, good people of Goulburn, is why we can’t have nice things. We don’t look after them, or fight for them when they are in danger.

There’s another disclosure that I should make. I am a beneficiary of the TAFE education system. I gained an Associate Diploma of Welfare Work in 1989 (at Ultimo TAFE) which qualified me to work as a Youth Worker and then District Officer for DOCS.

I picked up a number of short computer courses at Goulburn TAFE in the 1990s and  in 2009 I completed the Certificate IV in Frontline Management at Goulburn TAFE.

I’m a strong believer in TAFE education and I cannot believe it helps anyone to triple course costs and put them out of reach of ANYONE who might benefit from them. The state, and the nation, benefits from a smarter, more highly trained populace.

Some of the people I feel most sorry for are the dedicated staff of the Goulburn College. Many of those same people I worked with more than 20 years ago, such is their dedication to the college and to education. They are extraordinary educators and committed administrators.

Through no fault of their own, they have been left with an overpriced product to sell which offers a threadbare, and shrinking, selection of courses.

They, too, want cheaper courses and a greater variety of courses. They, too, want their facilities to be in good repair and full usage.

A once-again thriving TAFE College would stop many kids having to leave Goulburn to pick up skills. It would attract students to stay on campus and would encourage people to continue with training throughout their lives.

It’s a magnificent facility and it’s heartbreaking to watch the life leached out of it incrementally.

So. There are still a few days left before the election. Hound the candidates… ALL of the candidates... and let them know how important the TAFE College is to Goulburn, and to you.

Save our TAFE College. Make it affordable. Make it diverse.

Or we can do nothing, And in a few years we can look at an online gallery of that other fine institution we let die, and shake our heads at the waste of it all.