Taking Lilydale back not an option Victoria's Minister for Higher Education and Skills Peter Hall says government can't take back shut down Lillydale campus. Picture: Aaron Francis Source: The Australian The Victorian government has rejected a call for it to compulsorily acquire, for a nominal sum, Swinburne's shut down Lilydale campus, saying it is legally impossible to do so. Community group the Yarra Valley Educational Precinct Committee this week wrote to higher education and skills minister Peter Hall calling on the government to take the campus from Swinburne for a nominal $1 in order to make it cost effective for alternative providers to take on the site. Committee convenor Bernard Dobson wrote that Swinburne had an ongoing "moral" obligation to provide higher education to the area after having originally been gifted the site for that express purpose. "They shouldn't be permitted to profit at the expense of the local community and tax payers," Mr Dobson wrote. However a spokeswoman for minister Hall said the government could not compulsorily acquire the site. "Any government body cannot sell a site to a training provider at less than its market value, therefore it's impossible for the Victorian government to simply acquire Lilydale as suggested in this letter," she said. The Government remains committed and is working tirelessly to ensure that there is continued education provision in Lilydale. The Committee is also wary that the Government could give up on ensuring that education services are retained at the campus and instead rely on education provision into the area from another site. But Mr Hall's spokeswoman said retaining education at the site remained a priority. "Our priority is for education to remain a key part of the Lilydale Campus," she said. Swinburne said it was seeking to sell the campus at a fair value determined by the valuer general. "If there are any proceeds, we want to use them to the benefit of our students across all our campuses," said Swinburne's head of corporate affairs Andrew Dempster, including its nearby Croydon campus. However, provision at Croydon is currently limited to trades training, or certificates and diplomas largely in building and general education. Mr Dempster warned that if governments were able to compulsorily acquire campuses it would discourage universities and TAFEs from investing in regional and outer metropolitan areas. "These are long standing processes, developed and supported by successive governments, which protects both taxpayers and public landholders," he said. Separately, Mr Hall's office rejected suggestions from the Yarra Ranges Council that the Commonwealth government guarantee or "bank" university places at Lilydale in a bid to encourage in another provider. "The Victorian Coalition Government does not believe allocating a specific number of university places will encourage a new provider into the former Swinburne Lilydale Campus," the spokeswoman said.