Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment, I present the report of the committee entitled TAFE: an Australian asset, together with the minutes of proceedings and evidence received by the committee.

On 24 February 2014 the Minister for Industry asked the committee to inquire into and report on the role of the technical and further education system and its operation. In undertaking this inquiry, the committee continued the work of the education and employment committee of the previous parliament, although with slightly revised terms of reference.

The TAFE sector is the largest education and training provider in Australia, with 61 government-owned institutes and university TAFE divisions. TAFE is also a major public provider of vocational education and training, or VET, accounting for just over 70 per cent of equivalent full-time VET students in 2010.

The committee has spent the best part of this year taking evidence on TAFE, and this report is the culmination of the committee's work. The report considers the commonwealth's involvement in VET; the development of skills in the Australian economy; the pathways that TAFE provides to employment and university; and TAFE's place in the competitive VET market.

Wherever the committee went, strong support was expressed for TAFE's role in vocational education and training, both during formal evidence and more informally. Our report acknowledges the positive impact that TAFE can have on people's lives and the critical role that TAFE plays in the Australian community.

Yet there is no foundational statement in the Council of Australian Governments framework that recognises the crucial importance of TAFE in the VET sector. The committee recommends that the Australian government should make such a statement through COAG defining the role of TAFE within the sector and acknowledging the unique functions that TAFE can contribute. The statement should also set the future direction of TAFE in the competitive training market, and recognise that the affordability and accessibility of this market is underpinned by a strong public sector provider.

As the major public provider of vocational education and training, TAFE plays a vital role in the development of skills for the Australian economy. A broader issue that emerged here was the wide variability of training quality in the VET sector—something noted last year by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) in its review of the important aged and community care training sector. The committee recommends that this be addressed, either through increased prescription and precision around national training packages, or through the development of measures for assessing skills acquired.

A range of evidence, including the committee's online survey and personal stories, highlighted TAFE's importance as a provider of pathways to employment and university. Related to this is TAFE's significant role as a provider of opportunities for those in positions of disadvantage and vulnerability. TAFEs are often the main provider of VET for those in remote and rural areas, and have a higher ratio of disabled and disadvantaged students compared to private providers. For those who are disadvantaged or vulnerable, TAFE can be life-changing: its courses can help people to gain confidence and skills and can lead to better employability and access to mainstream education.

This important function is a particular issue for TAFE—one of several—as it operates in the competitive training market, and the committee recommends that the Australian government should seek to ensure that VET funding takes into account TAFE's role in providing opportunities for those in positions of disadvantage or vulnerability.

Another factor for the TAFE sector in the competitive market is the level of capital investment TAFEs require. The committee was particularly interested in the capital costs needed to run some TAFE courses such as those requiring large lathes, computer-programmed sheet metal cutters and 3D printers. It is concerning that the current Australian government VET funding structure does not appear to take these capital requirements into account. Capital costs should be taken into account, and the committee recommends accordingly.

Over the course of its inquiry the committee became aware of poor marketing practices in the VET sector and other practices of concern such as the collection of fees in advance. The committee is encouraged by ASQA's recent work in this area, and recommends that the Australian government should continue its current actions through ASQA and other regulators to address loopholes that allow high-risk and unscrupulous practices.

The committee also heard that Australian government VET funding provided for TAFE via the states and territories is not currently quantified at the federal level. This is unsatisfactory, and the committee recommends that reporting should be put in place to capture the exact federal financial contribution made to TAFE.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in this, and the secretariat. The committee also appreciated the positive engagement of the TAFE sector itself—Hunter TAFE in Newcastle, Regency TAFE in Adelaide, Central TAFE in Perth and the Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE in Townsville.

I commend the report to the House.

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Likewise, I thank all who have been involved in the preparation of the committee's report. The report very clearly reaffirms the centrality of government providers in the vocational education and training sector. While recognising there are shortcomings in the TAFE system across the states and territories, the overwhelming weight of evidence of this inquiry leads us to conclude that affordability, accessibility and investment in innovation in the trade training market must be underpinned by a strong, stable public-sector provider with institutional knowledge and a capacity for long-term investment.

I quote the evidence of Anthony Kittel, the driving force behind the award-winning South Australian company REDARC Electronics that is showing that, with a commitment to R&D and the dedication of staff, Australia can manufacture and sell into the globally competitive market. Mr Kittel said:

My concern is that we are going to this privatisation model and we will lose that long-term relationship we have developed with a provider that has got the facilities and the capital equipment to be able to provide for our needs.

…   …   …

… my experience with private providers is that they are short term. They win a contract and they are gone tomorrow.

…   …   …

For us to remain competitive, for a long-term goal, we need those foundation skills maintained in an entity like TAFE.

He goes on to say:

My experience over 17 years of running my own company is that private providers will do everything possible to get that course down the shortest amount of time. I can come in tomorrow and borrow someone else's course, but I will not deliver the quality that I would if it was my normal day-to-day job and I was doing over a large number of people and had the ability to upskill myself to deliver that training.

I congratulate REDARC for recently winning the Telstra Business of the Year award.

Of course, there are challenges in the TAFE sector. We had some very interesting evidence from South Australia—this time the Australian Submarine Corporation. They told us that TAFE was considered a vital contributor to their workforce and that TAFE had delivered approximately 56 per cent of total trainees that the air warfare destroyer workforce has undertaken. Mr Hamilton stressed that we need a VET system that ensures 'graduates are technologically malleable and are thereby able to rapidly assimilate new technology and procedures'. Mr Hamilton expressed concern that TAFE was using equipment that was out of date. With the rate of technological change in the manufacturing sector, equipment needs to be turned over much more than every 20 years. In Germany it is more like five years. The TAFE sector needs to look at leasing rather than buying equipment in order to help deal with this problem. The Minerals Council pointed out some of the rigidities in pay scales in TAFE that prevented people with skills in high demand from being paid differently—and others in the industry agreed with that—and the need to ensure that staff have contemporary industry experience.

The committee inspected provisions around the state, as the chairman said, including WA Central TAFE. The facilities we saw were fantastic, including the mine simulator that uses an old sewer viaduct and enables shot-firer and rock-driller trainees to learn not only the skills required but also whether they can deal with the physical issues of working underground.

I commend the evidence presented by the principal and VET instructors at Morley Senior High School. This school has been an RTO for the past decade and has a profound understanding of the benefit of introducing serious trade training in schools. In the adolescent oriented environment of a school, students can be introduced to a variety of trade and get a sense of the trade or industry they are suited to. They then can complete pre-apprenticeships in the secure environment of the school. This reduces the very high attrition rate of kids who leave school at 15 and 16 to start a trade from scratch. It offers as much better use of time at school for those students and ensures that there is less wasted investment by employers and TAFE. I support the need for us to look very closely at the skills that are being attained. I would urge ASQA and its WA counterpart to become much more active in monitoring whether those students being assessed as having skills actually have them. We have students facing much higher fees and, indeed, they are now having to borrow to fund these courses under the HELP scheme. It is more important than ever that we impose real quality control on those we allow to deliver this training.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for the statements on this report has expired. Does the member for Herbert wish to move a motion in connection with the report to enable it to be debated on a later occasion?

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39(c), the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.