Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Abetz, I indicated before that I am not in a position tonight to assess the quality of the evaluation of the doctor's work. It is one thing to have employers, government departments and some trainees provide endorsements and indicate that they were happy with the training. It is another thing to conduct a thorough evaluation.

The quality of the survey conducted by the SRCC in evaluating how to achieve best outcomes, a component of that being what trainees particularly feel that they want or benefit from, is certainly a relevant factor. But I am not at the moment in a position to evaluate the quality of the endorsements you refer to with respect to the doctor's package. What I am prepared to say is that, as far as I am aware, the SRCC conducted an evaluation on the question of how delivery should occur. A component of that was a survey of what training employees thought they would best benefit from, and that indicated that they valued face-to-face time.

In terms of delivery of training though, I would ask you to consider the areas that I referred to in part previously. I am certainly aware of changes in counselling training where a move away from full online delivery has been seen as appropriate. So in theory you could be a trainer of counsellors who previously provided online training and who, if you are not prepared to change your practice, will no longer be able to deliver training to counsellors who would need to be endorsed to provide counselling.

Similarly with mediators, whether they are industrial mediators or operating in other areas, there is a requirement that at least a certain level of training delivery be provided face to face. This is not a new issue. Certainly if the doctor had been providing competent training I cannot understand any reason why he would not determine to adjust his package to be able to deliver training under the new guidelines.