Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Senator, I would expect that, in the next couple of weeks, Minister Hartsuyker will meet and discuss with some of the first-tier stakeholders exactly how the approach will play out, if I can put it that way, in terms of those who represent the various VET providers and other key players. The first point of those consultations will, indeed, be to, perhaps, set down some of the benchmarks and time lines that you ask about, so that it is developed in a cooperative manner. We have, perhaps too much so in not having brought this legislation to the Senate earlier, sought to be very consultative in our approaches.

In March, when I announced the suite of eight reforms to the VET FEE-HELP scheme that we applied then, I established, working within the department, a VET FEE-HELP working group. That working group brought together TAFE directors, ACPET and the community colleges. It brought in representatives of industry and consumer affairs. I think we had the New South Wales consumer affairs commission represented. We had Gerard Brody from the Consumer Action Law Centre in Victoria, who I had not met at that point in time, but who I had noted, through media, as being one of the strongest critics of the way the scheme was operating, so I wanted to have his input around that table as well on the reforms that are contained in this legislation.

The government, I think, has shown a strong commitment to consultation and a consultation which does stretch beyond the immediacy of providers and tries to make sure it has representatives, importantly, of both student and employer interests around the table, because we should never lose sight of the fact that we are debating vocational education and training. The outcome and objective we seek is that students are trained and skilled for jobs.