Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Lindgren for her question. As Senator Lindgren rightly acknowledged, the Australian Skills Quality Authority, ASQA, today released the Training for early childhood education and care in Australia report. It is a report that is of great concern. It did find, pleasingly, that 90 per cent of the 77 registered training organisations audited achieved full compliance, but equally it also found that around three-quarters of training organisations, both private and public training organisations, were offering childcare qualifications in significantly less time than that recommended by the Australian Qualifications Framework.

The government's response to this is clear, it is strong and it is immediate: we want to make sure that we give students confidence that they are getting quality training and parents confidence that those working in child care have quality qualifications and skills behind them. So we are working with ASQA to increase its audits on childcare training organisations and instructing ASQA to work with the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority to ensure that they have audits of the highest standard and relevance to childcare education and workplace practices. We will also be asking the new Australian Industry and Skills Committee to urgently consider the adequacy of the workplace learning requirements of the relevant childcare training packages because in the end on-the-job training is often the best training possible.

We want to make sure that ASQA itself is using all of its powers. I will be issuing a directive to ASQA to make sure that they explain how they are using the powers they already have in relation to these short courses and in relation particularly to the recommendations under the Australian Qualifications Framework for short courses to be avoided and regarding the recommended length of diploma qualifications and certificate III qualifications. We have also given ASQA powers to impose penalties and infringement notices, and I will be directing ASQA to explain how those penalties can apply in these sorts of instances.