The NSW government revealed on Wednesday the state’s autonomous TAFE institutes would be merged into one streamlined entity, dubbed One TAFE. 

The move signalled the immediate end to the 10-institute structure introduced in 1992, with the new overarching entity expected to be in place by June 2018.

Relieving TAFE Illawarra institute director Belinda Mackinnon said, for now, it was “business as usual”. 

“Certainly longer term we’ll need to look at how we reduce any duplication of the administration,” Ms Mackinnon said.  Asked how many jobs would go, she said “not every decision is certainly going to be an easy one”. 

“We’ll still need to refocus our resources to that frontline delivery where we’ve got high demand,” she said.

“There’s no numbers attached to any of those [changes].” 

Skills Minister John Barilaro said the government would open 12 Connected Learning Centres (CLCs), like the recently-opened Dapto shopfront, next year.

As for plans to turn other Illawarra campuses into CLCs, Ms Mackinnon said it was an option being considered statewide.  

“There are no plans, that I know of, for that to occur locally, but that’s a planning decision,” she said.     

NSW Labor’s skills spokeswoman Prue Car and Illawarra spokesman Ryan Park said the government was “hell bent” on dismantling TAFE. 

“Using the cover of a restructure, the Baird government is paving the way for a wholesale move away from bricks and mortar to teaching more courses online,” Ms Car said. 

“Your local TAFE is as good as gone.” 

Mr Park feared the Dapto campus closure could be repeated across the region.

“At a time when youth unemployment in the Illawarra is high and we have a skills shortage, now is the time we should be investing in TAFE, not cutting it to the bone” he said. 

Ms Mackinnon said there would be “widespread consultation”.

An Illawarra Liberal MP has backed his government’s reform of the TAFE system, saying it was about “moving resources from the backroom to the classroom”.

Gareth Ward, the region’s parliamentary secretary, said the decision to merge the state’s 10 autonomous institutes, including TAFE Illawarra, into one entity would boost operations. 

“None of the TAFE colleges that are open in the Illawarra are at risk, in fact they’ll be receiving more resources,” Mr Ward said. The MP said up to 60 cents in every dollar spent on TAFE was going into running the system.

“Any model that sends more than half of the money it receives on administration and not on students and teachers on the frontline; no one will ever be able to convince me that is a sensible model,” he said.

Asked about job losses, Mr Ward said it was a redeployment of resources and every $1 million saved would educate an extra 250 students.

Just how big of a hit TAFE Illawarra will take as a result of NSW government reforms isn’t yet clear, but the union representing administration staff fears for the future of smaller campuses.

“We have support staff across all campuses and any loss of those jobs in our region is bad for the communities those people are in,” Public Service Association (PSA) regional organiser Tony Heathwood said. 

“Most places are down to what we consider bare minimum.”

Mr Heathwood said the reforms were “just a further attempt to reduce costs in this misguided belief that TAFE should be a part of a market, not an educational provider”.

“We believe TAFE should be the predominate public provider,” he said.