Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on a bill the subject of which is at the very core of the quality of our vocational education and training—the quality of service providers, which impacts upon the quality of graduates. It therefore has a direct impact on business and Australia's productivity. The National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Bill 2015, once implemented, will have the effect of improving the quality of Australia's vocational education and training scheme by: enabling the Australian government to create new quality standards to quickly address problems with vocational education and training providers or courses; requiring anyone and everyone who is marketing a course to clearly identify which registered training organisation is providing the qualification; extending the registration period for RTOs from five to seven years to enable the national training regulator to focus its attention on investigating and acting upon high-risk and poor quality providers; and making technical amendments to improve the administration of the act.

I have chosen to speak on this bill for three reasons. First, it is pivotal to the future of young Australians. Second, in Durack, my electorate, I see remarkable VET institutions and teachers, and young students who are doing very well and securing great jobs both here and abroad. Third, I am distressed by the less than complimentary anecdotes and comments about aspects of the system generally as it relates to quality of training and to waste. Therefore, I say loud and clear that service providers are on notice. It is taxpayers' money, after all, and providers must be accountable. We are all watching. Not only is poor service, in the broadest terms, unjust to our young people and students; it is also damaging our productivity, as a nation, and our reputation. We heard from the member for Cunningham about unscrupulous training providers. We must put an end to this and be able to quickly address problems with vocational education and training providers or their courses. Of course, there are many high quality service providers in Australia who already meet the quality standards. They are to be congratulated.

My large electorate of Durack, of some 1.6 million square kilometres, occupies a hefty portion of the great state of Western Australia, and VET courses are taught in a range of ways and places—in the old TAFEs, in schools, by private organisations; the list goes into the thousands in Western Australia—and tighter controls are needed to achieve consistent quality outcomes. To provide some context, here are some key facts about vocational education and training in Western Australia. In 2013, there were 164,000 public VET students in Western Australia. The Australian government will provide Western Australia with $199 million in funding to support the subsidisation of VET training. In 2012, there were 52,000 VET qualifications awarded through the public VET system. There are approximately 42,000 apprentices and trainees in Western Australia, and 2,200 of these are currently in Durack. There are 507 registered training organisations in Western Australia, as at January 2014. Western Australian students undertaking a VET qualification have a 34 per cent likelihood of completing that qualification compared to 36 per cent nation-wide—not great stats, I am afraid. In 2013, approximately 11,000 international students enrolled in VET qualifications in Western Australia.

So, we are talking large numbers—masses of student, domestic and international, regional, rural and remote, and over 500 service providers who are responsible on behalf of the government for the delivery and quality of the system and its outputs. This is where the bill we are debating today is intended to have some gravitas, effecting some powerful and positive changes. Western Australia undertook an independent review of the vocational education and training sector in 2013, leading to the publishing of a report. The report recommendations had a flawless focus on improving the structure of the sector, governance arrangements and training outcomes. The Western Australian findings are well aligned to the intent of the bill we are debating today—which will have the effect of improving the quality of Australia's vocational education and training scheme, primarily by improving accountability and governance and quickly addressing problems with providers or courses.

In my introduction I mentioned that there were three reasons I wished to join the debate today. One is my distress when I hear comments about aspects of the system generally relating to the quality of training and training providers and to waste. The introduction of a quality standard via this bill should go a fair way towards addressing this matter. The Standards for Registered Training Organisations, established in 2012, were intended to ensure national consistency and compliance across Australia's VET system. As part of the government's reforms to the VET system, new standards are set to take effect this year, which will strengthen requirements on RTOs and third parties. Importantly, they must advise prospective and current students of debts and government subsidies before students sign up to a course.

Secondly, in order to overcome the change cycle for standards, which is around 12 months, a new instrument, equivalent to emergency powers, is being introduced, to be used only for serious and critical issues impacting on the quality of training being provided to students. Known or emerging quality issues that compromise the student and, let us be frank, the industry in Australia as a whole can be readily and quickly addressed. It gives industry, states and territories a direct avenue for action by the Commonwealth to deal with their concerns.

Let us look now at the marketing of training. A measure being introduced in this bill has come about in direct response to the negative impact of marketing by third parties in the training sector and, in particular, in the VET FEE-HELP market. In my electorate and, indeed, more broadly in my travels across Western Australia, I hear many worrying comments about this issue. The new requirement will firmly address the actual marketing of training and the type of information that must be provided to prospective students, including VET FEE-HELP loans, state entitlements and subsidy arrangements they sign up to. This is a matter of providing good information and ensuring people understand it, as well as its impacts, which were referred to by the previous speaker, the member for Cunningham. It must be clear to all students what they are signing up for, every single time their debt level is due to increase—and, hopefully, if someone is being offered a laptop, they also understand what their ultimate exposure is going to be. The standards make it clear that RTOs are responsible for service delivery by brokers on their behalf, thus providing clarity, accountability and better governance. This accountability has been problematic.

On the performance of RTOs, new mechanisms to assess performance, albeit of poor-performing providers, include targeted and random investigations and audits, leading to early detection of noncompliance. Having visited students in vocational education and training institutions across my electorate of Durack—in places like Geraldton, Exmouth, Carnarvon, Broome, Kununurra and Morawa—and discussed the merits as well as the problems of the VET system, I feel strongly that the amendment moved to this bill will not only benefit the students but also benefit local businesses who employ these students.

The introduction and successful passage of this bill builds on the work the government is already doing to improve quality. The bill adds to the strong reforms the government is instigating to expand quality across the VET sector, including new national standards for training providers, reforming the National VET Regulator and a new National Training Complaints Hotline. The government could not be more serious about supporting vocational education and training, together with higher education.

The National Vocation and Education Training Regulator Amendment Bill 2015, once implemented, will effectively improve the quality of Australia's education and training scheme. No-one can argue with that. I commend the bill to the House.

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