House debates

Monday, 14 October 2019

Private Members' Business

Vocational Education and Training

5:52 pm

Photo of Julian LeeserJulian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the Member for Braddon for this motion and acknowledge the contribution he's making around this place and in particular to thank him for the opportunity to talk about the government's work and achievements in the vocational education and training sector. The VET sector is a hothouse for skills development in this country and plays a very important role in job creation. Families and businesses rely on the VET sector to equip Australians with the skills they will need for the jobs of today and into the future. I'm proud to be part of a government that's taking this part of the education system very seriously.

Since 2013, our government's created over 1.4 million jobs. We haven't created these jobs by dreaming up new positions that serve no purpose, but instead by equipping businesses to create the opportunities that are most needed. Lower taxes and other tax relief allow businesses to employ more people. The other part of the picture is job creation and making sure Australians are well equipped to fill the roles that businesses need through vocational education reform.

We're investing in vocational education and training to fill skills gaps and help employers pass on their knowledge to the next generation. The first part of our vocational education and training reform is reaffirming and building confidence in the vocational education and training sector. For too long, vocational education has been seen as the second cousin—the poor option—for young people compared with university pathways, which have tended to have a higher status position in the minds of many families. We used to rank schools based on the number of university graduates they produced. It became so normal that we didn't really think about how false that measure was. Our government's turning that mindset around. For a person who is soon to begin a career, there are big decisions they need to make.

People need to look at what they love, what they are good at, where they can best contribute in the long term, what will enable them to support themselves and any family that they may have, and what will allow them to be productive and offer skills and services to fulfil community needs. For many people, VET pathways are the right pathways to take. The skills learnt are incredibly important for the whole community, and we would be lost without those people who take this pathway. Of course we need university educated thinkers, doctors, lawyers engineers and the like, but we also need people who can drive the economy forward to produce the goods we need, to work in resources and manufacturing, and keep our communities powered, watered and safe.

Our government is restoring confidence in the VET sector by significantly investing in it. In 2019-20 we will spend over $3 billion on VET to support people to gain skills and to reskill throughout their lives for jobs that industries need. We're saying to people who are wondering about what their career future might hold: this is the pathway you should be taking. When a person choses a VET pathway they can often earn good money, support their family and make an important contribution to the Australian economy. In fact, 31 out of the top 50 earning occupations require a VET pathway.

Our skills package helps employers and employees take the first risky step of starting on a new career pathway. We want to see Australians investing in their own future by developing skills that will allow them to adapt to the changing workforce. If we don't do this now we will find ourselves on the back foot for years to come. In areas where we have national skills shortages, there are payments to encourage the formation of new apprenticeships. This will generate up to 80,000 new apprenticeships over the next five years.

The other part of restoring confidence is making sure that the training people receive is up to scratch. We're improving the regulation of training providers. People need to know that the training they receive will actually make them job ready and employers need to know that when a person comes to them with a certificate, that the certificate represents a whole lot of competence, skill and knowledge. The Joyce and Braithwaite reviews found that reform was needed in this regard, so we're acting on bringing changes to the Australian Skills Quality Authority. Employers need to be able to count on training providers to get their future employees ready for the jobs they're needed to do. They need to know that people can walk into their businesses, do a job and add value. With technology rapidly adjusting, that's not always an easy task. Training providers need to be able to quickly evolve, and the reforms we are making will focus on helping training providers to fulfil their duties to a high standard. The Australian Skills Quality Authority will be reformed to make sure it's keeping those standards high for those training providers.

Last week, as others in this debate have mentioned, we announced the new National Careers Ambassador, Scott Cam. His remarkable career began with an apprenticeship. In my community, as in so many other communities right across our country, we have our own Scott Cams, people who, many years ago, chose a vocational education pathway and who've contributed an enormous amount to the economy and to their communities. Many of these people have become not only successful masters of their own trade but also very successful business people. I look forward to seeing vocational education grow in quality and reputation, with many people taking advantage of it in the years to come.

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