Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak to the importance of a robust and effective VET sector. As an educator first at TAFE and then at higher education institutions, I know that not every person can, should or, indeed, wants to go to university. I also know that not every industry, not every job and not every vocation can have, should have or, indeed, needs to have university graduates. What they need is a well-trained workforce, focussed on competencies and practical skills.

Australia's training framework was world-renowned for its responsiveness to industry needs and for its quality framework. Education is one of Australia's most valuable exports, and it is one that is worth protecting. But this government's inexplicable sluggish and tardy response to malfeasance in the VET sector has put the education industry and Australia's reputation as a world-class, quality training provider in danger.

VET works for students, for employers and for the community. Western Australia is facing increasing unemployment as the mining boom winds down and people need access to training courses to acquire new skills and develop their employment potential. It is all very well and good for this government to talk about jobs and growth, growth and jobs, but people cannot get jobs if they are not trained or qualified to do the work and if they cannot get the quality training they need to do the work.

In my own life, training and education have played a significant role in helping me to get off a single parent pension and improve the economic and social circumstances for me and my children. I am living proof of just how life-transforming good education and training can be. I started out my career as a teacher at TAFE, where I set up a program that focussed on outcomes—a program that helped adult learners who were re-training in the health sector to ensure that they not only successfully enrolled in their course but, more importantly, successfully completed their course.

Today it is a very different story. The focus on outcomes and on getting successful completions has completely been lost with the blow-out of the VET FEE-HELP scheme under this government's watch. Less than one third of students enrolled in VET FEE-HELP courses finished within three years. Completion rates for online diplomas are shocking—deplorably shocking—with just seven per cent of students completing their course. The government bill for VET FEE-HELP loans blew out by $315 million last year to $1.6 billion, or thereabouts. Modelling by the Grattan Institute estimates 40 per cent of those loans will never be repaid, meaning that taxpayers will wear that cost. According to a University of Sydney study, some of Australia's largest RTOs are raking in profit margins of more than 50 per cent off these loans. The examples are mind-boggling. Two providers owned by the same operator can charge $3,500 and $12,750 for the identical qualification. The previous speaker gave us several more examples, all of which occurred under his watch—not just as a member of the government but as the actual minister responsible.

VET reform is important, but we cannot let this government off the hook on its persistent mishandling and refusal to do anything about this, despite being called upon time and time again to do so. A comment from a piece in TheAge in 2015 says:

It beggars belief that the federal government has waited until now to freeze the level of funding it is providing to the myriad private companies offering vocational education courses via the VET FEE-HELP scheme. And even now, its efforts to curb the fraud and rorts in the industry seem tepid.

Labor supports the VET Student Loans Bill 2016 and related bills in principle, but in so many ways it is a case of too little, too late. Over the last three years, the Liberals have shown that they simply do not care about technical and vocational education or about TAFE. They have ripped $2.75 billion out of TAFE, skills and apprentices. Under the WA Liberals, TAFE fees have increased by more than 500 per cent and dozens of courses have been cut. It is simply not good enough.

Of course we support these bills, but that does not let the Liberals off the hook for sitting on their hands while dodgy private providers ran rampant and students were ripped off, leaving them saddled with massive debts. While it is commendable that finally something is being done about this, let's not forget that before the election it was Labor that proposed VET reforms, and now the government has copied them. Capping student loans to stop rip-offs—copied. Cracking down on brokers—copied. Linking publically funded courses to industry need and skills shortages—copied. Requiring providers to re-apply under new standards so only high-quality providers could access the loan system—copied. Linking funding to student progress and completion—copied. And a VET loans ombudsman—you guessed it: copied. Yet when Labor announced a policy of capping student loans, as we heard from the member for Adelaide, the response from the other side, from senior ministers in the government, was to rubbish it as 'ill-thought-out', 'ill-considered' and a 'classist policy'.

In closing, we do hope that the Senate inquiry into the bill will give stakeholders a chance to properly examine these issues, because the government did not consult properly with students or the sector on the detail of any of these changes. It should never have come to this, but now, after billion-dollar blowouts, the government seems to have finally woken up to itself. VET, TAFE and apprenticeships are crucial to jobs and our economy. As a representative of an outer-suburban electorate, where TAFE represents not just second-class alternatives for those who could not get into university but an actual pathway, a real pathway, a quality training framework for real jobs and real job creation, I hope, and Labor sincerely hopes, that the government will use these changes to do what they can for the best interests of students and for the best interests of employers. We genuinely hope that they work to get the implementation of these changes right.

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