Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I said 'imply' that the costs would be prohibitive. You have got to listen, Senator Mason, rather than chat. If you had listened, you would have understood what I had said. If there has been a complaint and it has been substantiated, I do not understand the concern from the other side. I think it is important that everybody is assured of quality, and this is certainly a way to make sure that that happens.

The charges supported by this bill were subject, as I said, to extensive consultation throughout 2011. I am not certain whether Senator Mason mentioned the consultations. But the consultations included face-to-face meetings with state and territory senior officers, peak RTOs, unions and industry representatives. So it is not as though the government is plucking prices out of mid-air. We have had quite extensive consultations. Public comments were invited regarding the draft schedule of fees and charges and an exposure draft of ASQA's cost recovery impact statement. The charges were established having regard to the resources required, to effectively audit and investigate an RTO. The feedback received from consultations was extremely helpful in ensuring that the new cost arrangements are appropriate to the sector.

The charges were agreed by the ministerial council on 30 June last year and will now be authorised by legislative instrument. A strong, nationally consistent regulatory framework is key to achieving quality and consistency across the VET sector. The integrity of that framework means you must have a strong regulator—a regulator with teeth. You need a regulator that can ensure that VET providers—registered training organisations—are complying with registration standards at all times. Senator Mason reflected on the fact that occasionally that did not happen. It is imperative that we ensure—and I agree with Senator Mason—that this does happen and that the standard is high. It is an area, as Senator Mason mentioned, that is sometimes disregarded by the media and even by the public. I wholeheartedly agree with that view. I think the way to help overcome that disregard is to make sure that the system is tight and that we have quality standards to offer. The compliance audit and complaint investigation powers of ASQA provide a strong incentive for RTOs to comply. They are an incentive, therefore, for RTOs to improve quality if they need to.

The bill currently before the Senate empowers ASQA to charge for these additional monitoring activities. It provides a schedule of fees and charges that allows ASQA to recover reasonable costs and expenses. It also supports a fair and proportionate framework for ASQA's cost recovery arrangements.

I note that the bill was referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry. Despite some concerns around clarification of terms and costs for regional and overseas institutions, the committee recommended that the bill be passed in its current form. The committee expressed the view in its report that adequate explanations had been provided regarding the services provided as part of the registration process. The committee also found that the cost recovery impact statement sufficiently explains all relevant fees and charges and clarifies any uncertainties relating to the extraneous nature of compliance audits and additional monitoring activities. In conclusion, this bill is an important component of the national regulatory framework that this government has established for Australia's vocational education and training sector. I commend the bill to the Senate.