The downgrading of Goulburn's facilities has spurred advocates under the banner of The Goulburn Group to launch a campaign to 'Save Our TAFE'.

With Australia facing a skill shortage, member of the Goulburn Group Penny Ackery said there was a need to ensure youth could train locally.

"I think Goulburn is really missing out on an opportunity because they're choosing to make a very big central TAFE at Moss Vale," Ms Ackery said.

"We've lost our electrical trades and we've lost construction."

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The National Skills Commission's most recent Skills Priority List found that 42 per cent of technician and trade occupations in Australia are currently in shortage, compared to 19 per cent of all assessed occupations being found to be in shortage.

In Goulburn, technicians and trades workers made up 14.1 per cent of employment in the 2016 census, according to the Bureau of Statistics.

Managing Director of Pearson Engineering Ben Pearson said skill shortages weren't only being fuelled by TAFE cuts.

"Obviously the more people who have access to TAFE the better but there are significant other factors and they begin in the schools," he said.

"There are simply not enough kids coming out of school looking to get into trades and those that are, have often not done trade-related subjects at school.

"Many of the schools' trade-related subjects are in full decline and the schools seem to be losing their skilled trades teachers as a result."

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Ms Ackery believed high school teachers should not have the burden of teaching trade subjects if they were not trained to do so.

"You have to remember the people that are running those classes, some of them have worked in the industry but most of them haven't."

Ms Ackery believed it should be up to TAFE to provide practical training and was disappointed to see so many subjects only offered online.

While Goulburn MP Wendy Tuckerman announced a $1.8 million investment into Goulburn TAFE in late 2021, courses are increasingly being transitioned online or moved to other campuses.

The Goulburn Group was also concerned that by not offering practical courses locally, students would be forced to relocate to study or wouldn't take up courses at all.

"If you're 15-years-old, you've got no way of going to Moss Vale and this means Mum is going to have to take a day off work to take you there," Ms Ackery said.

"That makes it hard for kids that want to leave and get an apprenticeship before they're 17."

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Pearson Engineering hosted 25 students on Thursday, June 23 for an excursion.

"To try and help we offer as many students as possible the opportunity to do work experience here," Mr Pearson said.

The new Labor federal government has also promised a $50 million TAFE Technology Fund aiming to improve IT facilities, workshops, laboratories and tele-health simulators across the country.

The Goulburn Group has welcomed the commitment to extra funding but wants to ensure that Goulburn is included in this initiative, concerned that if students did decide to move they wouldn't return to Goulburn.

"I know three young people that moved to Canberra just to take courses and who knows if they will come back," Ms Ackery said.

Letters were recently sent to Goulburn Mulwaree councillors as well as to MPs Wendy Tuckerman and Angus Taylor stating the group's concerns.

"We want to find out what is happening with the TAFE and whether our local members have a plan," Ms Ackery said.

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