Gippsland Portal Feature: Bracks Comes To Gippsland

This week, Victorian premier Steve Bracks examined the development of the Yallourn Campus of Central Gippsland Institute of TAFE. The $4.98 million project was funded by the State Government under the multi-milllion dollar capital works program.

Mr Bracks was thrilled to see the improvement in the campus since his first visit to the institute in 1999. 'I'm delighted to…see first hand the progress that has been made to refurbish the Yallourn Campus,' he said.

Pictured: Joe Piper (General Manager, GippsTAFE), Jeff Gunningham (CEO, Central Gippsland Institute of TAFE), Antony Svasek (the Gippsland Portal), Premier Steve Bracks, Stewart Cramer (Institute Council President),Ian Maxfield (Member for Narracan) and Councillor and ALP Candidate Brendan Jenkins

The developments have assisted in establishing the campus as a state-of-the-art facility for education and training. It is hoped that the works, in addition to a further $1.5 million grant for the advancement of the institutes information and communication technology resources, will boost the number of educated adolescents in rural and regional areas. This coincides with the Government's goal to increase this number by 6 percent before 2005.

In addition to the huge investment in the Yallourn Campus, a grant of $1 million has also been issued for the construction of four flexible delivery classrooms at Central Gippsland TAFE's Warragul Campus.

The dedication to improving the standards of tertiary education for Gippslanders was not the only striking factor noted on the day. Many positive comments about Mr Bracks himself were also made by by-standers at the event. "I was impressed. Mr. Bracks seems like such a people person. He is not arrogant at all," noted Gippsland Portal Team Leader, Tony Svasek (pictured in group).