LONG-AWAITED PLEDGE FOR TAFE

Training and Skills Development Minister Shannon Fentiman, Whitsunday Regional Council mayor Andrew Willcox, student Rana Wagg and ALP candidate Mike Brunker.

HONING in on the agriculture industry could be the key to reviving Bowen’s TAFE campus and supporting both students and farmers into the future.

A long-awaited funding injection could be forthcoming if Labor wins the upcoming election, as the party made a $3.4m pledge towards the Bowen facility.

The money will be invested in an Agricultural Centre of Excellence and is part of the Labor

Party’s new $100m Equipping TAFE for our Future policy.

Labor candidate for Burdekin Mike Brunker said a new agriculture facility would fit “hand in glove” in Bowen, given the town’s proximity to Proserpine and the wider Burdekin area.

Putting agriculture in the spotlight would also give the campus an upper hand, he said.

“For years TAFE has tried to be a lot of things to a lot of people,” Mr Brunker said.

“The new facility will deliver high-quality training for the latest practices in innovative, sustainable agriculture and horticulture.

“If we can focus on this, people will travel from around the state to train here to specialise in these particular areas.”

In August this year, Bowen Chamber of Commerce president Bruce Hedditch said expanding Bowen’s TAFE offerings was a key way to drive the region’s economy and called for more courses to be offered at the facility.