Initially organised to be hosted at Mulyan Public School, the forum venue was changed just hours before it was due to start to the Cowra Services Club. 

In a letter to the editor, Cowra Teachers Association President and forum organiser Glenn Johnson lashed out at the decision to not allow the meeting to be hosted at a public school.

“Readers would probably think that it makes sense to have a public meeting on the future of public education in the hall at a public school,” Mr Johnson said. 

“This has happened previously, 1999, at Cowra Public School. 

“The community was able to engage with the candidates in a state election to tell them what they wanted.”

It was clear the late change  affected attendance at the meeting, with many loudly voicing their confusion on arrival at the Services Club. 

Starting late to allow for the confusion, the two candidates - Nationals MP Katrina Hodgkinson and Country Labor’s Charlie Sheahan - shared their policies on public education and then spent another hour taking and answering questions from the floor. 

Recurring issues in both speeches and questions were the issues surrounding TAFE funding and courses, job opportunities for teachers, Gonski impact, the replacement of demountables and school infrastructure. 

Questioners included principals and deputy principals from Cowra’s primary and high schools, teachers, parents and general members of the public. 

While generally supportive of each other, both candidates were quick to respond if they didn’t agree with the other. 

In answer to Ms Hodgkinson’s presentation, Mr Sheahan said he was “gobsmacked with all of these figures floating around”.

Instead of figures, he focused on his personal view of education. 

“Education is the future of our country, of our people,” he told the forum. 

“I think we have slipped on being the leader in public education.

“Labor has taken the TAFE cuts and threats to privatise to heart and they are going to reinstate it back to where it was.

“To rural and regional kids TAFE colleges are the only training available to them.”

In answer, Ms Hodgkinson shared with the crowd she was a former TAFE teacher; something of which she was very proud. 

She spoke of the commercialisation of some courses - especially those not related to industries facing skills shortages, such as arts.

“It would be really nice to do all of the courses. I am a former teacher of TAFE,” Ms Hodgkinson said.

“However, I totally recognise these are taxpayers dollars we are using [to fund these courses].

“I totally get those issues [of access to courses and campuses in regional areas] but we are always going to have that in the country.

“So in order to get young people skilled up and able to do the courses they need to secure employment, we need to make the most with our money. 

“We have to make the tax payers’ dollar go further.”