Learn from the mistakes made by the Australian Tafe system or risk making the same.
That is the message federal Tafe secretary of the Australian Education Union Pat Forward shared with an audience at Otago Polytechnic this week.
Ms Forward visited the campus during a speaking tour of New Zealand polytechnics and training providers to discuss the "decimation'' of the publicly funded Tafe sector.
Australian government policy changes over the past five years had virtually transformed the education sector from a public to a private system, she said.
"One you shift a social good like education to a market model, the answer is the perfect storm,'' Ms Forward said.
In 2012, the Australian Federal Government required states and territories to open funding for vocational eduction to private providers.
The student loan system was also changed, removing the cap on how much providers could charge for their courses.
The New Zealand polytechnic system was in an "alarmingly'' similar position to where Australian vocational education was five years ago, she said.
"The New Zealand Government appears to be flirting with the private sector.
"The reality is the market has not worked, the policy has not worked, quality has collapsed and trust has collapsed.''
The impacts of privatisation included declines in enrolments, fewer apprenticeships and the removal of tertiary education options in rural areas, she said.
Tertiary Education Union national president Sandra Grey said the organisation also feared New Zealand polytechnics were on the "same trajectory''.
"People can't sit back and think they will always have a public provider.''
The provision of private and public funding for level 1 and level 2 funding was of concern because level 3 was the next step.
"That is the time when people start vocational training and students will go elsewhere,'' Ms Grey said.
Ms Forward will also speak at the Ara Institute of Canterbury and the Wellington Industry Training Federation.
