Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak about an issue that has received quite a lot of local media attention and concern in my electorate. In Bendigo, a group of about 50 Karen refugees, who have settled and made Bendigo their home, claim that they have been misled by training provider Treble J Enterprises into signing up for an early childhood education course. They were told at the time that they signed up that the course was free and that it would increase their chances of employment. I speak about the growing problem that we have in our VETS sector, and the way private providers are manipulating local markets and manipulating potential students.

These are the concerns that the Karen community members have raised with me. This is the order in which the problem has occurred. First, the group became aware of the course fees. The first time they became aware of the course fees that they would incur as a result of these training diplomas was via a text message. They were told via a text message that they would have to pay a $14,000 VET FEE-HELP loan, and that that loan had been approved. All enrolled in the course maintained that they were told, prior to receiving this text message, that the course would be for free. They can be forgiven for misunderstanding or being misled when we have our own government saying, 'Don't worry about the debt you may incur. When you start a course, whether it be TAFE or university, it is for free. You don't have to pay any up-front costs. You pay costs once you start earning a wage.' There is confusion, at the moment, in our community when providers and parliamentarians use the term 'free'. These courses are not free. As these Karen community members found out via text message, they would be incurring a hefty debt for enrolling in these courses.

When I met with many of the students who were trying to withdraw from the courses because they did not want to incur such a debt I was alarmed not only by the way in which they were enrolled in the course, but by the way in which the course was being delivered. They were enrolled in a diploma of early childhood education to be delivered by the Churchill Education, Queensland organisation. But this organisation had subcontracted the training and the recruitment to Treble J Enterprises.

The trainer for this particular diploma is a guy by the name of Randy. Randy was also responsible for delivering cert III in child care as well as cert IV in disability services, though these courses were cancelled with no clear reason after five modules had been delivered, and all the students were told that they should now enrol in the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. There is a question about the quality and the delivery of the courses.

The students were not aware of the training provider delivering cert III or cert IV courses. The trainer refused to provide information to an advocate from the Bendigo neighbourhood centre, who is advocating on behalf of the group. Every one of the community members that I met with had a slightly different story. Some had started certificates; some had not started certificates. Some had not received the paperwork for courses that they believed they had completed, and some had the course cancelled and were encouraged to enrol in their diploma.

The point of concern that I have is the lack of informed consent. Many students signed paperwork with no clear explanation of the fact that they would be incurring a VET FEE-HELP debt. The marketing of the course was deliberately misleading. There was no written information provided following enrolment. There was a dispute about when the census date for the course is, so there is a question about whether we are able to get these fees that now sit against the student's name waived. There is a lack of transparency by the training provider and, more importantly, there is buck-passing going on between the subcontractor and the actual provider. This is simply unacceptable and not fair, and I call on the ACCC to follow the example of what is happening in New South Wales and investigate this matter.