Mark Baker (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2006 and strongly encourage all members to express their support for it. The Australian government’s commitment to addressing areas of skills needs as a prerequisite to developing a skilled Australian workforce and keeping Australia’s economic growth strong is well known. There are great skills needs throughout a number of traditional trades in Australia and, contrary to what the member for Shortland has just been espousing, it actually occurs when you have a strong economy and a 4.6 per cent unemployment rate—something that the Labor Party can only dream of. We all know about and experienced through the 1990s Labor’s destruction of the Australian economy, the destruction of businesses through record interest rates and over a million people unemployed. The member for Shortland needs to sit back and appreciate and remember those disastrous times. So as great a skills shortage as there is in this county, it has actually occurred through a thriving economy.

The Australian government is strongly committed to encouraging and supporting young Australians into trades and onto trade based self-employment or opening their own small businesses—another thing that the Labor Party has no comprehension of, no experience in and no understanding of what is required. The establishment of 25 Australian technical colleges in regions experiencing skills needs and higher than average rates of unemployment has demonstrated the Howard government’s leadership in providing this type of future.

A key concern for all businesses today is the need for a high level of quality productivity in the workplace. According to workplace studies conducted universally—in 2003 by the University of New South Wales, in 2004 by Monash University, in 2005 by Harvard University—one of the key factors that enhances productivity is the skill of the workforce to produce goods and services at a globally competitive performance level. We live in a world of globalisation. We live in a competitive world—something that we need to continually understand and appreciate as we move to a higher level of skills needs in this country.

Studies undertaken by the Great Lakes Council in Pennsylvania, the Singapore government on behalf of the ITC system and Harvard University verify that trade based training led by industry, supported by education—and that is one concept that the Labor Party cannot seem to understand or grab hold of; this is a new concept of industry to education, not education to industry—provides a significant contributor to higher productivity outcomes in the workplace. The decision by the Australian federal Liberal government to introduce the industry led training initiative, the ATCs, was one based upon the need for a skilled workforce that will be driving productivity and world’s best practice processes into the future.

Each of the 25 regions is different in aspirations, style and substance. By offering training in a specialised trade that is of particular relevance to the local region, and is in one of the industry groups which have been identified as a priority, the government has set the overall direction and strategies necessary to respond to the most significant challenge faced by Australian business in ensuring ongoing economic growth and development—that is, the training of more skilled workers to meet a growing demand by Australian businesses in order to remain competitive in the global economy.

The establishment of the Australian technical colleges has provided a new approach to achieving this objective and forms an important part of the Australian government’s overall strategy for tackling our skills needs. In promoting trade qualifications as a highly valued alternative to a university degree, and demonstrating that vocational education and training provides access to careers that are secure, lucrative and rewarding, the Australian government is actively raising the profile of vocational and technical education.

The ATCs serve to address the skills needs of the Australian economy through the pursuit of a number of key goals. These include: the promotion of pride and excellence in trade skills training for young people; the provision of skills and education in a flexible learning environment in order to build a solid basis for secure and rewarding careers; the adoption of a new industry-led approach to providing education and training in partnership with local communities to meet regional labour market needs; the provision of trade training that is relevant to industry and that leads to nationally recognised qualifications through school based new apprenticeships; the provision of academic and vocational education which is relevant to trade careers and leads to a year 12 certificate; the provision of employability and business skills to young people, recognising that many successful apprentices will operate their own businesses; and the development of expertise in a range of industries in a region, with the flexibility to meet changing workforce and local industry needs.

Students studying at the colleges will be provided with tuition in trade related vocational training, leading to a national training package qualification, and academic studies which allow them to complete their senior secondary education. This is a new way of developing and training for the future skills needs of our country where we are providing an apprenticeship, skills training and also pre-tertiary education. Students will commence a school based new apprenticeship in a trade in an industry where there is a need. They will have a strong foundation to continue with the preferred trade after they complete year 12 but will also keep open the option of going on to further academic study if they so choose.

By promoting a strong career path in trade and occupations in key industries as a helpful and satisfying opportunity for young people, the Australian technical colleges play a pivotal role in raising the profile and status of vocational pathways. They offer high-quality training and facilities where capable and committed students who are interested in pursuing a rewarding career can start their vocational training. The colleges provide training which is relevant to industry and which leads to nationally recognised qualifications relevant to trade careers and further academic study if students so choose. The colleges provide employability and business skills to young people and develops expertise in a range of industries in a region with the flexibility to meet changing workforce and local industry needs tailored to the needs and challenges of each individual region. The flexibility offered by the Australian technical colleges to tailor arrangements to local needs is especially valuable. It is what makes this new form of education so valuable to the regions that they will be located in.

As noted earlier, the Australian technical colleges are able to offer training in specialised trades of particular relevance to a local region or to one of the industry groups which have been identified by the Australian government as a priority. Each Australian technical college provides both academic and vocational technical education as well as the opportunity for each student to commence a school based apprenticeship in a trade. Australian technical colleges are for students in years 11 and 12. Students enter into school based apprenticeships in the trades at the certificate III level. This leads to a nationally recognised qualification. Students study academic subjects leading to a year 12 certificate and also gain IT, employability and business skills, enabling them to run their own businesses if they desire. Thus students learn a trade whilst studying towards their year 12 certificate; and, if they choose to, study subjects which would give them the option to go onto university. After listening to the member for Shortland, I suggest that she sits down to read about and understand what these new Australian technical colleges will provide. I should probably say that not only to the member for Shortland but the majority of the Labor opposition.

These new colleges will provide an incentive for more students to stay on at school and will encourage more students to pursue a trade qualification. They expand student choice by providing another pathway to a career involving trades. Facilities and educational services offered by the colleges are high quality, establishing them as centres of excellence in trade training, thereby raising the profile of vocational and technical education in schools and strengthening the training system as a whole. The colleges play an important role in expanding school based apprenticeships, particularly in the traditional trades area.

The unique and sustainable quality of the Australian government models insists that local industry and community representatives have a leadership role in the governance of each of the colleges. The direct involvement of industry and community leaders ensures that the skills taught to students match those skills required by local businesses. Students will be trained in these skills through an Australian school-based apprenticeship which will lead to a nationally recognised qualification. At the same time, students will also complete the academic subjects required for their year 12 certification.

These bills do not support an untried method or model. The ATC model, which seems to be misunderstood by those on the other side in this House, considers successes that have already been recorded globally. For example, similar education facilities exist in Pennsylvania, USA; the Institute of Technical Education, Singapore; Malaysia; Holland; and the UK. They have verified and quantified results validating the important contribution an industry-led training model makes towards business’s long term economic sustainability. I would like to quote one of the key findings from the Singapore government’s review of the ITE college, an industry-led trade training school. It said: ‘The quality of the workforce is an essential prerequisite for an organisation’s sustainable growth. Business competitiveness is possible only if the workforce can produce products and services at a highly productive level.’

Industry-led training brings industry skills into education, providing a high level of knowledge transfer between both disciplines. Such an approach has a strong following as the most effective method of training for the trades being targeted by the Australian technical colleges model. The training model ensures our young people have the best prospects for employment due to the high level of relevancy their training has to the industries which will employ them. This training model ensures that our businesses have the best skilled workers, which are the core of a high level of industry productivity and a sustainable economy. This is a model that is flexible, evolving and relevant to local regional skill needs. It is a model that is transforming training and education in this country today.

The Australian technical colleges differ from current schools and TAFE in that they provide students with the opportunity to pursue trades training, leading to a nationally accredited qualification, as well as complete their senior secondary education. Students at colleges will have the opportunity to commence an Australian school based apprenticeship. Such a model in turn supports the long-term prosperity of each of the regions in which the colleges are located and, of course, assists Australian businesses to remain competitive in a global economy such that exists today. The Australian technical colleges offer an alternative model of training, through the provision of high-quality training and facilities, thus further increasing Australia’s vocational and technical education system and, at the same time, providing more choices and more opportunities for our young people.

The bill also requires states to take action to maximise choice for employers and new apprentices so that they can choose the most relevant, flexible and convenient training for their particular needs. Maximising Australia’s skills base is a high priority for industry, particularly in the traditional trades like engineering, electro-technology, building and construction, as well as in new and emerging technologies such as photonics and nanotechnology. Through this bill, the Australian government is demonstrating its commitment to high-quality, nationally consistent education and training and to working closely with industry to find solutions. Something that the Labor Party has great difficulty in coming to terms with is actually working with industry to find solutions. The Australian government is committed to high-quality, nationally consistent education and training. By working closely with business and industry at all levels, the Australian government has fostered a national collaboration and engagement which will undoubtedly lead to improved success within Australia’s training system.

The bill will make available some $343.6 million over the period to 2009 to support the establishment and operation of the 25 colleges. This supplementary funding will support infrastructure development as well as the additional costs associated with the delivery of the specialised services which the colleges will provide. This funding is over and above other general recurrent funding which colleges will be eligible to receive from the Australian government under the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004 and recurrent funding provided by state and territory governments.

The Howard government’s commitment to vocational and technical education is illustrated by the significant funding provided through this bill, which will further increase Australia’s vocational and technical education system and deliver improved vocational training to young people throughout this nation, which will create a future for them to enjoy. It will allow them to grow and take this country forward in the years to come. I commend this bill to the House.

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