Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Social Inclusion. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House about the latest developments in the reform of our vocational education and training system?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my Victorian colleague the member for Corio for that question. Today the Victorian government has announced a significant package of reforms aimed at dramatically increasing the number of people able to access training and upgrade their skills. Of course, the Rudd Labor government is committed to reform of the nation’s training system to drive productivity growth, increase workforce participation and address skills shortages. I have already outlined to the House some of the major new investments we are making which are threatened by those opposite, but amongst the reforms we want to achieve apart from those new investments is to ensure that Australia has a training system that is truly responsive to the needs of people and industry.

We understand the need to build a highly skilled workforce to drive productivity and low inflationary growth in a modern economy. Of course, that was a reform direction neglected day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year by the Liberal Party when it was in office. We understand that, to grow our productive capacity and to compete in the international market, we depend increasingly on the supply of skilled workers, the availability of specialist knowledge and our innovation performance. This is true across all industries. It is true in financial services, in manufacturing, in mining, in health, in hospitality and in education. Lifting productivity and participation is essential for the future of this country and its long-term growth.

Just as Australian businesses cannot compete if they are hamstrung by poor infrastructure, Australian businesses cannot compete if they are hamstrung by a lack of skilled labour. The Rudd government is committed to establishing a flexible national training system as a central priority. To do so, we are working cooperatively with state and territory governments through the Council of Australian Governments to deliver solutions to the nation’s skills shortage. The Rudd Labor government does not believe in a ‘one size fits all’ approach, but we are committed to supporting all reforms that honour our election commitments to ensure we have a flexible and responsive training system for the future. We believe there are a number of ways the training sector can rise to these challenges, a number of roads of reform.

To ensure that cost is not a barrier to students accessing training and that every Australian has the opportunity to improve their skills, irrespective of their own financial resources, I have announced today that the Commonwealth will support Victoria in the introduction of an income-contingent loan scheme for government-subsidised diploma and advanced diploma students. The Commonwealth will also meet the administrative costs of the scheme and we will not charge a loan fee to students. This will increase access for those without financial resources, boost the quality of courses and expand the number of places for students. It means more opportunities, more quality courses and more places for students. It also overcomes the current division between some diploma and advanced diploma courses which are VET FEE-HELP courses and others which are not. We currently have a fragmented system where some diploma courses and some advanced diploma courses are covered with VET FEE-HELP and some of them do not qualify.

It may be staggering to realise, but there are around five million working-age Australians without a qualification at the certificate III level or above. We need to fix that through our education revolution. Can I congratulate Victoria on their commitment to increase investment and drive reform. They are working with the Rudd Labor government, and we will be working—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Four minutes!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

with other states and territories on reform drives to improve our vocational education and training system. I know solving the skills crisis bores those opposite, but we are fixing 12 years of their neglect with an important step forward today in partnership with Victoria—something they clearly do not care about. Victorians will note their contempt for the skills development of Victorians.