Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to this important bill that will finally enable students within the vocational education and training sector to have an easily deniable student number. The Student Identifiers Bill 2014 the will benefit those students commencing nationally recognised training from 1 January 2015. It will enable the establishment of a much more coherent and streamlined system of information from the currently inaccurate and fragmented one that leads to waste and confusing duplication of student identities and records. The coalition took a commitment to the election that we would provide more assistance to those in the vocational sector, and I am proud to be here today to talk about these important changes.

This is a very technical bill and I will go through it in specific detail to demonstrate how this bill will be of enormous benefit to all those involved in the vocational education and training centres and the impact it will have on those in my electorate of Brisbane and throughout Australia. The bill will establish a national life-long unique student identifier—USI—for students in the vocational education and training, VET, sector who undertake nationally recognised training from 1 January 2015.

Currently, information about vocational education enrolments, participation and completions is fragmented, incomplete and inaccurate. There is waste and confusing duplication in the creation of student identifiers and records, and unnecessary cost to training providers because often the same information is collected many times over and over again. Pathways and patterns of enrolment and completion are often difficult to understand. It is currently difficult to develop evidence-based and cost-efficient programs that effectively target skill shortages and the skills that industry needs. The USI is an integral part of the government's strategy to address these many problems.

An immediate benefit will be to lessen the burden on training providers, and this will be done by collecting that important art just once and it can be used many times. It will operate in conjunction with the Total VET Activity program. The USI will enable a much more rationalised way to collect data. It will empower students to access further training and to promote their skills in the labour market, because records of their learning outcomes will be so much easier to access.

An exciting component of this bill is the way in which students will be able to access their records online. They will be able to access their national training records online anytime, anywhere. They will be able to give access to their training provider, which will simplify enrolment processes, and send a transcript to prospective employers.

A person does not have to wait. You can create your USI online faster than you can complete and be issued a white card online, and often using the same ID. An online white card training provider can also create a USI for the student using the same enrolment information and ID—for example, a driver's licence—that they use to issue a white card. Providers must have a USI to issue a certificate of attainment. The white card effectively includes a certificate of attainment. With the USI, governments will be able to better assure the integrity of training activity and investments by enabling accountability for public funds and the delivery of certified training. Comprehensive and relevant labour market and training data will also very much help the engagement with training for students and businesses.

This legislation is very similar to a bill that was introduced by the previous government and lapsed in the last parliament. The major change, which is a key amendment, is to adopt a more streamlined and less costly governance arrangement for the administration of the USI scheme. Instead of having a separate statutory agency, which would have increased red tape and imposed more burden, the scheme will be administered within the Department of Industry under guidance of a statutory office holder. This will be much more efficient and simpler. Subject to passage of the legislation, the scheme is set to formally commence on 1 January 2015. Although initial implementation of the USI will be in the VET sector only, there will be capability in the future for the USI to be introduced into other sectors over time.

This bill will enable training providers in the Brisbane electorate to provide much better service to their students. I want to highlight some of those very excellent providers and the incredible work they do to assist in training our students. Charlton Brown, founded in 1985 and located in Fortitude Valley, places graduates in local, national and international employment. Their training includes a range of community services, including early childhood education and care, aged care, home and community care, disability care, outside school hours care and community services work. It is also a national and international employment and nanny placement agency, which is where it had its humble beginnings. I want to commend the principal and CEO, Kay Ganley, and her wonderful team for the nationally and internationally acclaimed work that they do.

Another education provider is the Carrick Institute of Education, also in the Valley. It was founded in 1987 by Catherine Carrick as a small tourism and hospitality training centre with a focus on personalised education. Its courses range across business, marketing, management, accounting, hospitality, tourism, events, community services and children's services and it is also recognised internationally.

Sarina Russo, based in Brisbane's CBD, is part of the Sarina Russo Group. The group was established in 1979 and is an industry leader in education, training, recruitment and job creation. They boast a domestic and an international training cohort of over 10,000 students. I would like to congratulate Sarino Russo on her work in the higher education area as well, particularly her collaboration with James Cook University.

These excellent vocational education and training providers are just three of Australia's many providers who will benefit and who, in turn, will provide benefit to their students, families and the wider community from the unique and innovative changes that form part of this Student Identifiers Bill. The bill will also build on the Abbott government's commitment to provide more financial assistance to apprentices through the Trade Support Loans program. This was a commitment we took to the last election and one that I was very proud to see implemented for those in my electorate of Brisbane who choose to build richer lives for themselves and their families through taking on an apprenticeship.

Apprentices in the Brisbane electorate will have access to $20,000 over the entire period of their training. Importantly, more support will be provided during the initial years when it is needed the most. The $20,000 is repayable once apprentices are earning a substantial income, of around $50,000. Apprentices will receive a 20 per cent reduction in the amount of the loan once they complete their training. The trade support loans will provide support of up to $8,000 in the first year of the apprenticeship, $6,000 in the second, $4,000 in the third and $2,000 in the fourth.

The USI is an initiative of the Council of Australian Governments, COAG. As such, the development of the bill, underlying policy and operational arrangements has been undertaken in very close consultation with state and territory jurisdictions and agreed by all training ministers. Extensive consultations were undertaken with the sector in the development of the bill. This included a consultation regulation impact statement process, two rounds of national consultations and a round of national workshops and webinars. In addition, an external reference group was established to bring together Commonwealth, state and territory governments and VET peak industry bodies to collaborate on the USI initiative. In addition, national workshops with around 650 training providers were undertaken in 2013 to ascertain the level of training provider 'readiness' to implement the scheme. The workshops found a high level of engagement and acceptance of the scheme amongst the many training providers who participated.

This Student Identifiers Bill is unique and will provide life-long affiliation between students and learning providers. I am proud to be able to represent the Brisbane electorate in this important shift to enable our vocational education and training providers to have the opportunity to greatly streamline their operations and to enable increased efficiency and greater ease for students to access their learning data. I commend the bill to the House.

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