NEWS DESK
Petrol drive-offs problem at pumps Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au
Gather round: Singing teacher and conductor Kathleen McGuire, centre, and pianist Yolette Stewart lead the way for Patterson River Secondary College students at Singfest. Picture: Yanni
Schools hit the high notes IT was Patterson River Secondary College’s turn to host the annual Singfest that sees choirs from schools across the South Eastern Region meet, learn and perform choral music under the leadership of a guest conductor. Conductor Dr Kathleen McGuire, co-artistic director of the School of Hard Knocks, took up the baton in Carrum last Wednesday (16 March) to lead about 200 students from ten schools across the south east this year. Dr McGuire’s career as a conductor, composer and educator spans more than three decades and five countries. She has earned multiple degrees including the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
A variety of choral music was composed and arranged by Dr McGuire to help students improve their musicality, intonation and sight reading abilities. Since the guest conductor was also the composer and arranger of this year’s music at Singfest it gave students a greater insight into the music learned and performed. Nineteen Patterson River Secondary students from years 7 to 12 took part in Singfest. “The day ran very smoothly with students very happy to go out of their way to meet and help students from other schools,� principal Maree Vinocuroff said. Dr McGuire was assisted over the course of the day by accompanist Yollette Stewart.
FRANKSTON has been named as a municipality where petrol station owners must beware of drivers leaving without paying for fuel. A state parliamentary inquiry into petrol drive-offs found Frankston is the sixth highest area in the state for non-payment of fuel. The inquiry into fuel drive-offs report, tabled in Parliament last week, revealed drivers left service stations in Frankston without paying for petrol on 1604 occasions over ten years from 2005-2014. Neighbouring Kingston was ranked tenth in the drive-off stakes with 1233 in the same period. Brimbank (4035), Casey (3190) and Hume (2480) took out the top three places in the petrol drive-off hall of shame. Victoria Police told the inquiry numberplate thefts have contributed to a rise in petrol thefts in recent years. “There is a correlation between thefts of numberplates and petrol drive-offs and a range of other offences, including tollway offences, theft of vehicles and a whole range of activity that takes place,� Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana told the inquiry. RACV public policy general manager Brian Negus urged motorists to install fitted one-way screws on vehicle numberplates to discourage thieves. He said it costs just $3 and
can be done as part of a service at RACV service centres. “We have been lobbying the manufacturers to put one-way screws on new cars, but a lot of cars — they are fitted in dealers mostly. Sometimes they are changed over pretty quickly; then it is done by the individual,� Mr Negus said. “If the dealer network would do it, that would be a really good start, and that is why we have been advocating in that space.� Police noted “significant police resources are diverted to investigating fuel drive-offs in Victoria, with only a small number of these being resolved�. Fuel prepay trials in areas such as Frankston in evening times had reduced petrol thefts by as much as 50 per cent but the inquiry found prepayment is an inconvenience to the majority of honest customers. The parliamentary committee tasked with compiling the inquiry into fuel drive-offs report recommended police, Crime Stoppers and the fuel retail industry should work closely together to target repeat offenders. The committee also said the state government should look at ways to bolster the petrol prepayment system to lessen inconvenience to customers. Prepaying at the pump could be an option. The committee recommended police meet with retailers to discuss petrol drive-offs every six months.
Campuses closed, graduation rates unknown Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au GRADUATION rates at the individual campuses of privately operated training colleges are not being monitored by the federal government despite billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money paid out to the college operators. The cost of VET FEE-HELP courses being offered by private education providers soared to $1.6 billion nationally last year with taxpayers footing the bill for loans to students to pay for vocational college courses. Most of this money is unlikely to ever be repaid since graduation rates at the private colleges are extremely low and some colleges have ceased operations recently after coming under scrutiny by
the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission over the marketing of VET FEE-HELP courses, marketed as “study now, pay later� courses, to low-income students with little chance of completing courses. Evocca College, a registered training organisation (RTO) with a campus in Frankston, announced last week it will close 17 of its 44 campuses across Australia and sack 220 of its 770 staff across the country. Evocca’s Frankston college will remain open but the company refuses to confirm graduation rates at the campus. “It’s Evocca’s policy not to disclose statistics relating to specific campuses,� Evocca spokeswoman Suzanne Ross said late last year (‘Unanswered
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questions on Evocca graduation rates’, The Times 2/11/15). The federal Department of Education has now advised The Times it “does not collect student completion data by campus�. “Course completion data is reported to the Department at the provider level and not at campus level,� a statement said. “Therefore the department is unable to provide course completion data at the campus level.� The Department and Gemma Sandlant, a media adviser to Liberal Vocational Education Minister Scott Ryan, refused to provide a spokesperson name for the emailed statement. “It’s a response from the department, so it can be attributed to the department,� Ms Sandlant said.
Evocca has received more than $400 million in VET-FEE HELP funding nationally. Department of Education figures reveal 32.9 per cent of VET-FEE HELP students at Evocca in 2011 had graduated by 2014 and 22.4 per cent of students who signed up in 2012 had finished their course. The Department of Education advised The Times there were 447 students enrolled at Evocca’s Frankston campus in 2014 despite being unable to confirm graduation rates there. Evocca College CEO Craig White admitted the company is closing campuses and firing staff due to changes to eligibility criteria imposed by the federal government in January for VET FEE-HELP loans to students. “Fewer students will now be able to
qualify to enter Diploma-level courses at all training organisations under new rules including more stringent language, literacy and numeracy testing requirements. In addition, VET FEE-HELP has been capped to 2015 levels, restricting the growth of all providers, both public and private,� he said in a statement last week. “A workforce reduction is always the last resort and Evocca College has taken every possible step to minimise the impact of the changing operating environment on our staff.� The VET FEE-HELP system was introduced by the former federal Labor government in 2009. Labor announced last week it will order a full audit of the vocational college sector if it wins government at this year’s federal election.
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Frankston Times 21 March 2016
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