LOCAL Liberal Party politicians have "sold out" on the Swinburne Lilydale campus, says Monbulk MP James Merlino.
Mr Merlino, who is also the shadow minister for education, said Liberal MPs for Evelyn, Kilsyth, Gembrook, Seymour, Bayswater, Ferntree Gully, Warrandyte and Mitcham all voted against a measure he says would have saved the Lilydale and Prahran campuses.
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Last Thursday Labor moved an amendment in Parliament to try to ensure there was "sufficient VET funding for the continuation of existing campuses", including the Lilydale campus.
The bill passed through the lower house unchanged. "By failing to support this measure, these nine local members failed to stand up for the communities they were elected to represent," Mr Merlino said.
His comments came a day after the Higher Education Minister Peter Hall and Evelyn MP Christine Fyffe met representatives of the Yarra Valley Education Precinct Committee to confirm that continued education at Lilydale was a "top priority". "The Coalition government is committed to putting education first in any decisions relating to the future use of the Lilydale campus," Mr Hall said.