Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The most used term in that 15-minute contribution was 'the National Party'. The member for Richmond is obsessed with the National Party—the member for Richmond, brought back to the parliament on Greens preferences. She ran a very interesting campaign on coal-seam gas—not that I think there are any coal-seam gas developments in her electorate—and mischievously took out full-page ads against a very good candidate, Matthew Fraser. Matthew Fraser is still campaigning determinedly for the seat of Richmond, and well may he win because he will produce better speeches than the one we have heard for the last 15 minutes from the current member for Richmond—brought to you by the Greens, returned to this place by Greens preferences. And she knows that. She is obsessed with the National Party. Everything she ever talks about involves the National Party—but why would you not be obsessed with the National Party? It is a very good party. In conjunction with the Liberal Party, we form government. I know that is hard for the other side to accept; I know they are in a state of denial about the 7 September 2013 election result, but the National Party have a very good record in delivering for rural and regional children.

I notice all the kids up there in the public gallery. The sorts of reforms that we are bringing to primary and high school education, as well as to tertiary education and TAFE, will help those kids. Our reforms will provide the sort of platform that those kids are going to need when they choose a career. That will not be far away. I am proud of the efforts and the commitment of the state education minister, Adrian Piccoli—the current member for Murrumbidgee, based at Griffith, who is running for the newly-formed seat of Murray at the state election at the end of the month. He is the father of two young children and he understands the unique challenges that country kids face as well as all the things that New South Wales kids need, whether they are country based or whether they are in Sydney, Newcastle or Wollongong, to help them get better marks and get the best education and put them on the path to a bright future and a great career.

The National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Bill outlines our commitment to ensuring we have a high-quality education and training system and demonstrates the lengths the government will go to in order to crack down on unscrupulous vocational education and training providers and improve the quality of training. I heard the member for Richmond talk about unscrupulous vocational education and training providers, and on that score she is absolutely right. Some of the other things she said were totally ridiculous. Be that as it may, quality education and training in regional Australia is crucial in continuing to drive development and prosperity.

This bill will enable the Australian government to create new quality standards in order to quickly address any problems with providers and courses. That is important. This bill will require any provider who is marketing a VET course to clearly identify which registered training organisation is providing the qualification. It will extend the registration period for RTOs from five to seven years to enable the Australian Skills Quality Authority, the national training regulator, to focus its attention on investigating and taking action to crack down on poor-quality providers.

The government are absolutely committed to taking strong action against training providers who are taking advantage of vulnerable students, because we are serious about giving students the very best opportunity to obtain a trade of the highest quality that opens doors and job prospects upon completion. Not every school leaver wants to go to university and obtain a tertiary degree. Many of them want to go to a college of technical and further education. I have always argued, as my predecessor did, that a TAFE diploma is every bit as important, every bit as good, as a tertiary degree—every bit as important.

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