There has been an angry response from the New South Wales Teachers Federation over the decision to give the Catholic Church control of an Australian Technical College (ATC) proposed for Port Macquarie. In December, the Rudd Government announced it would honour election commitments to fund existing contracts for ATCs.
Education Minister Julia Gillard this week announced the Catholic diocese of Lismore had won the bidding to run the Port Macquarie college.
Ms Gillard says the college will help address the region's skills shortages.
But the teachers' federation's Wayne Webber says Catholic education authorities are unlikely to give equal access to the college facilities, to students from non-Catholic schools.
He says that will effectively lock out most local students.
"The decision by Deputy Prime Minister Gillard to gift the ATC to the Catholic diocese is really shameful," he said.
He says the college should be under public control.
However, the Lismore diocese says it is committed to working with the Rudd Government and meeting the needs of students and the general community.
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(Source: ABC)