Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, Senator Cash. A constituent in my state runs a training organisation employing 16 South Australians. This constituent was recently audited by the Australian Skills Quality Authority for registration. While the audit found high satisfaction from students, and re-registration was granted, my constituent was concerned about how ASQA communicated with him as a small-business owner. The minor issues that the audit identified as needing attention resulted in him receiving a letter threatening to shut him down. When he questioned the commissioner as to why ASQA responds in such a heavy-handed manner, he was told, 'Legislation requires it to be so.' Could the minister advise as to what part of the legislation makes it necessary for ASQA to intimidate and threaten the livelihoods of training providers rather than work with them to identify and rectify any breaches of their onerous and overly bureaucratic compliance systems?