Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The people of Berowra have a range of different educational outcomes. There are 16,339 people in my constituency that have certificate-level qualifications, 11,748 that have advanced diploma or diploma-level qualifications, 7,481 people working in technical areas or in trades and 1,731 machinery operators or drivers. The Hornsby TAFE has been educating people in technical and vocational skills for generations, and there have been a range of different private providers that have also been educating people across Sydney in this space. Many of the most successful small business people in my electorate have vocational qualifications and have made good lives out of the high-standard qualifications that they have got over the years. However, in recent years the whole vocational education sector changed, and it changed because of the lack of regulation and the poorly introduced program that the former Labor government brought about. It was a poorly designed, poorly regulated VET FEE-HELP program that has opened the door to rorters, to fly-by-night merchants, to people whose rules are Rafferty's rules—people who are looking to turn a quick buck who are not interested in education, who are not committed to students, who are not committed to the vocational education sector. Students were left without qualification, but they were left with big debts.

We heard from the member for Griffith about concerns about student debts. I am particularly concerned about the students who have undertaken vocational education courses who have no qualification because the completion rates are so inadequate but have very large debts because of Labor's inadequate regulation and poorly introduced VET FEE-HELP scheme. As always, it is the coalition that has to clean up this mess. In 2015 the coalition made a number of changes to the way the scheme was administered, including banning inducements. We know lots about the activities of recruiters in this area. There are stricter requirements on marketing and brokers. They removed barriers to withdrawals. They also introduced provisions to include a freeze on total loan limits at 2015 levels. The ACCC has been taking action against unscrupulous providers in this area—providers who have been able to operate, providers who have been able to charge fees that are well out of whack with what state education authorities have suggested, because of the poor and inadequate regulation bequeathed to us by the previous Labor government.

To give a sense of this, for instance, the Redesigning VET FEE-HELP: discussion paper looked at the New South Wales Smart and Skilled prices for VET FEE-HELP tuition and compared it to average tuition fee per full-time vocational student. In, say, a diploma of marketing, the New South Wales Smart and Skilled qualification price was $5,800, but the diploma of marketing in the average tuition per full-time student was $28,596. This is evidence of people looking to turn a quick buck rather than to actually focus on quality vocational education outcomes.

The completion rates are terrible in this space. Completion rates are in the low 20s. Because Labor completely failed to put in place adequate regulations, because they completely failed to look at this vocational education sector properly, what has essentially happened is that the most disadvantaged people—Indigenous people, people with disabilities—have been preyed upon by people in this space. It is why it is important that something is done in this space. It is why my question today to the minister is: what is the Turnbull government doing to fix the VET FEE-HELP loan scheme mess that the coalition inherited?

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