Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I do appreciate that point very much. The problem is, then, catching them out because of the audit processes being structured in such a way. That has been a profound difficulty, because of the available resourcing. I acknowledge that the government has increased resourcing for this particular regulator, but there is this huge problem of identifying colleges that have a quality provision. It is not, usually, until you establish that only one in 10 students is actually completing—that is a post-factor analysis, that you discover there has been this type of rorting going on. The qualified teachers, the quality of the programs and the contact hours are all measures that have been the subject of substantial public criticism. This is particularly difficult to identify when we are dealing with online courses.

There are no provisions in these amendments to deal with this and no way of really checking to see the quality of the teaching undertaken until such time as you look at the completions. Under this range, we are locking in this very poor performance of completions for the next year. Where would I find, in this series of amendments, reference to the fact that this is a temporary measure? Where would I find that reference, the sunset clause in these amendments, that says these are temporary measures to allow the government time to, essentially, revamp the whole scheme? Where do I find that in these amendments?