Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

At the end of the motion, add “but the Senate notes the:

(a)

Government’s continued failure over 11 long years in office to ensure Australians get the training they need for a skilled job and to meet the skills needs of the economy;

(b)

slashing of funding to the existing Technical and Further Education (TAFE) system, with Commonwealth revenues in vocational education decreasing by 13 per cent from 1997 to 2000 and only increasing by one per cent from 2000 to 2004;

(c)

Government’s failure to make the necessary investments in existing vocational education and training infrastructure to create opportunities for young Australians to access high quality vocational education and training in all our secondary schools and in the TAFE system;

(d)

Government is creating an expensive, inefficient, and duplicative network of stand alone Australian technical colleges, without cooperation or consultation with the States within the existing vocational education and training framework;

(e)

appropriation of more than half a billion dollars for 30 colleges that will produce 10 000 graduates by 2010 when by the Government’s own estimates there will be a shortage of 200 000 skilled workers over the next five years;

(f)

failure of the Government to provide opportunities for young people interested in pursuing vocational education and trades training who do not live near the 30 Australian technical colleges”.

I seek leave to incorporate my remarks in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

Mr President, I rise to speak to the second reading of the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No.2) 2007.

This bill establishes a further three Australian Technical Colleges, bringing the total number funded by the Commonwealth to 28.

The Opposition will not oppose this bill. Given that we already have 25 ineffectual, mostly failing ATCs, there seems no reason to oppose the establishment of three more.

And, frankly, any move by this Government to get off its tail and do something to train more skilled tradespeople would have to be welcome.

Despite our criticisms of the ATC program—and they are many and cogent criticisms—Labor in government will not close down the ATCs.

What we will do is to make them work—by bringing them closer to state and territory school and TAFE systems, and by ensuring that their operations are coordinated in harmony with those existing systems.

That is the rational way to go.

The Government, by contrast, has established these outrageously expensive new colleges as a political fix to a policy problem—the dire shortages we find in the skilled trades, the shortages that are holding this country back.

Virtually every one is in a Coalition or a marginal seat. The ATCs represent yet another way for the Government to try to buy its way out of trouble and back into power at the coming election.

The ATCs are the Mersey Hospital writ 28 times. They are a blatant political ploy of a desperate government.

Expensive and wasteful

And it’s an expensive ploy. This Parliament will be appropriating more than half a billion dollars—$550 million—to graduate 10,000 tradespeople by 2010.

That’s $55 000 per graduate! That’s over twice the cost of turning out a student in a similar program in a government school.

On top of that, since most of the colleges are actually in the private school sector, the students will pay fees, like at any private school. So whether a student from an ordinary working family would be able to get into one of these lavish colleges, I doubt very much.

At the moment these colleges aren’t working. they can’t find staff: they can’t find students.

• The ATC planned for the Pilbara in WA can’t open because it can’t attract teaching staff.
• The Lismore-Ballina college hasn’t even got off the ground—no tender has been let.
• Two other colleges have also failed to open so far.
• The Eastern Melbourne ATC has only 86 students, against a planned enrolment of 180, Senate Estimates was told. And it’s costing the taxpayer $15.4 million to under-achieve like this, by over 50%.
• The college in Northern Tasmania has only 120 students, when 175 were projected. That one is costing you and me and other Australians even more—$16.7 million.
• Several other ATCs are also significantly under-enrolled. Only two colleges have met their target enrolment for 2007.

Only one-third of the colleges are legally registered in their own right to provide training. The majority of the training actually provided by the ATCs is outsourced to TAFE and private VET providers.

Robb’s remarks in the House on 13 September.

And yet on 13 September, we had the Minister, Mr Robb, claiming at Question Time in the House that the ATCs were “an unqualified success”!

In the face of all the qualifications I’ve just listed, and many more—he has the hide to describe the Government’s farcical initiative, its failed initiative, as “an unqualified success”!

He claims that parents and prospective students—some of the kids still only in primary school—have been flocking to ATC information nights in their hundreds. So how come only two of the colleges have met their target enrolments?

The  Minister says that students in ATCs are telling him that “for the first time in their lives they feel motivated, they feel understood, they feel valued.”

He says “We are restoring with these Australian Technical Colleges a great sense of pride and confidence in these young people.”

How can that be? What kind of a difference can the ATCs be making to the education of young people when the majority of their teaching is contracted out to existing TAFEs?

The Minister is talking through his hat. What he says has no connection with the pathetic reality of the situation.

This is irony in the extreme—the whole idea, we were told, was that these new colleges were going to be showcases that were ultra-responsive to local industry needs. They would be state-of-the-art establishments that would inspire the stick-in-the-mud states and territories to lift their game.

The Prime Minister himself said, on 26 September 2004:

“The creation of 24 Australian Technical Colleges will promote pride and excellence in teaching and acquiring trade and craft skills at the secondary school level ...

All Australian Technical Colleges will be run autonomously by their principals, who will also engage teaching staff on a performance pay basis, attracting teachers of excellence with up to date industry and skills experience.”

Far from being “run autonomously by their principals” and “attracting teachers of excellence”, the colleges are in fact being run by someone other than their principals and the students taught by existing TAFE and private VET college teachers!

In my own state of Victoria, the Howard Government admits that 5 out of the 6 ATCs have actually outsourced their teaching to TAFE colleges—the very colleges suffering from funding starvation under the current Federal Government’s policies.

I am sure the TSFE colleges and their staff are doing a fine job, but that’s hardly the point.

Only nine of the existing 21 ATCs have no relationship with the established TAFE system. So much for a ground-breaking new model! So much for a new broom for trade training!

The spin that accompanied the establishment of these colleges assured us that all the students would secure apprenticeship placements. This would happen, it was said, because the ATCs would have much better and closer relationships with local industries and employers than other VET providers have.

Yet students at many of the ATCs have been unable to find apprenticeships. At the Illawarra ATC, for example, against a targeted enrolment of 50 only 35 students have enrolled. Of these, only 20 have been given apprenticeships.

ANAO report

Recently the Australian National Audit Office released a report on the ATC program. This report confirmed the litany of problems I have outlined today. It found that, in the tendering process for the Australian technical Colleges:

• Insufficient attention was paid to state and territory governments;
• Initial tender applications were weak and inadequate; and
• There was little choice among applicants.

The ANAO found that, with respect to nearly half of the initial 24 colleges, tenders were awarded based on only one or two applications. The ANAO said that:

“… an option… may have been to return to the market to develop more industry and community interest…”

A sad but wise comment, especially given that the Government’s ATC website assured us that the colleges would be established in:

“… areas where there are skills needs, a high youth population and a strong industry base.”

It would seem that the clamour from industry and the community for these Howard Government new-style colleges was so deafening that no one could hear it!

This whole program is a miserable embarrassment for the Government. This is expensive and wasteful.

It is not far short of a farce. Labor in government will move swiftly to repair this idiocy. We will sit down with the states and territories and sort out some rational and sensible way out of this mess. As I say, we won’t close the colleges down, but we’ll get them running on a reasonable and efficient footing.

Context—trade skills shortages, and funding

The whole comic tragedy of the Australian technical Colleges needs to be seen in the context of the serious shortage of skilled tradespeople that Australia faces.

We sorely need more qualified tradespeople. It’s a pity that this Government chose to set up a political stunt, rather than to be serious about redressing the funding shortfall in public TAFE and in public schools.

In 1997 the Howard Government cut funding to public TAFE. Commonwealth funding decreased by 13% over the years 1997 to 2000. The increase in the subsequent four years was a miserly 1%.

The Government’s own estimates put the projected shortfall in skilled workers over the next five years as high as 200 000.

A large proportion of existing tradespeople are due to retire in the next decade or so—they are baby-boomers.

Over 400 000 workers in the statistical category “tradespersons and related workers” are aged over 45.

These valuable skilled workers have to be replaced. We are not turning out nearly enough of them. The Government seems to think it can get away with importing skills through use of the 457 visa program but that is not a sustainable long-term option.

Australia needs to train up our own young people for careers in the trades.

Comparison with Commonwealth funding for TAFE

I have said that the ATC program borders on the farcical. Just take a look at these figures and tell me I’m right:

• The Government says it’s going to fund 10 000 students at Australian technical Colleges. Over four years, that will cost the taxpayer more than $550 000.
• At the same time, it has announced that it is funding 128 000 additional training places in the TAFE system. How much will the Commonwealth contribute to funding those 128 000 students? Just $215 million—less than half the amount it’s shelling out for just 10 000 students in ATCs.

This beggars belief. It proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Australian Technical Colleges program is no more and no less than a shabby political stunt—and a mighty expensive one at that.

It is irresponsible to waste taxpayers’ money like this. It is hollow vote-grabbing. The Government should hang its head in shame.

Labor’s plans for trades training

In contrast to the Government, Labor is serious about addressing the magnitude of the current skills crisis for all Australians.

Labor believes that Australia must focus on areas of maximum impact, including:

• TAFEs, which remain responsible for the substantial majority of post-secondary VET;
• VET in Schools; and
• On-the-job trades training.

Labor has already announced a 10 year, $2.5 billion Trades Training Centres plan aimed at the 1.2 million students in Years 9, 10, 11 and 12 in all of Australia’s 2,650 secondary schools.

By contrast, I remind you, the Government’s own estimates show that a maximum of 10,000 students are expected to graduate from the ATCs by 2010.

The Labor plan will provide secondary schools with between $500,000 and $1.5 million to build or upgrade VET facilities in order to keep kids in school, to enhance the profile and quality of VET in schools and to provide real career paths to trades and apprenticeships for students.

As well as providing infrastructure to improve vocational education and trades training in secondary schools, Labor has a plan to introduce a Job Ready Certificate for all vocational education and training in school students.

This Certificate will assess the job readiness of secondary school students engaged in trades and vocational education and training.

Students will obtain the Job Ready Certificate through on the job training placements as part of Labor’s Trades Training Centres in Schools Plan. 

The Job Ready Certificate will be a stand alone statement of a student’s readiness for work and will be in addition to a Year 12 Certificate and any separate vocational education or trades training qualification.

The certificate will provide students who complete secondary school with an increased awareness of the skills necessary in the modern workplace.

It will also provide employers with a tangible reference, indicating whether students are capable and ready to work.

The Job Ready Certificate will demonstrate that students possess basic workplace skills, including:

• Communication
• Initiative & Enterprise
• Self-management
• Technology
• Team Work
• Problem Solving
• Planning & Organisation.

At present, there is no requirement for education and training providers to issue a formal statement of employability skills.

This has been an ongoing issue for industry, with repeated calls from the Business Council of Australia (BCA), the Australian Industry Group (AiG), and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).

Federal Labor is committed to making education and training more responsive to the needs of industry.

The Job Ready Certificate is a key part of Labor’s 10-year $2.5 billion Trades Training Centres in Schools Plan—which includes $84 million to ensure students involved in trades training received one day a week of on-the-job training for 20 weeks a year.

It will be implemented in cooperation with industry, States, Territories and schools.

By making VET a viable option for all secondary students, Labor’s plan will make a real and significant dent in the current skills shortage.

Conclusion

As I noted at the outset of my remarks, despite our serious misgivings about the ATC program, a Labor Government will not close down existing Australian Technical Colleges. We will honour all current contracts with providers.

But we WILL move to transform this misguided stunt of a program into a genuine part of Australia’s education and training system. We will work with the states and territories, and with private providers, to achieve this.

We will put an end to the waste of taxpayers’ money that characterises this program.

At the same time, as I have outlined, we will take definite and concrete steps to improve the supply of skilled workers—to provide the skills that are essential to Australia’s future prosperity.

We will educate and train Australians so that all can play a part in the great enterprise of creating a future for our nation based on innovation. That’s Labor’s vision for tomorrow’s Australia.

Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to incorporate speeches by Senators Crossin, Wortley, Carol Brown, Polley and Bishop.

Leave granted.

Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

This Bill amends Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Act 2005 to increase funding in total for 2005 to 2011 by an additional $74.7 million.

This is largely to account for an additional 3 further colleges.

ATC’s are now located across the country with some 90% in coalition held seats.

The flaws of this policy and of ATC’s not withstanding, many of these colleges are now established and open, albeit with far fewer students than expected or desired, and at far greater cost per student than would have been the case if the existing TAFE system had been used.

In view of the continual attacks on all higher education funding by the Howard Government, Labor have accepted these colleges and supported the concept, albeit with reservations. Any additional funds for our higher education sector are welcome so this bill is supported.

The Howard Government has presided over ongoing cuts to VET funding that have seen hundreds of thousands of young Australians denied a place in college.

The Howard Government has, despite many loud and clear warnings allowed the number of trainees and apprentices to fall to the stage where we as a nation are now confronting a massive skills shortage which is severely hampering our productivity and growth.

They of course claim this is not so and that numbers of trainees have risen, but they ignore the fact that the bulk of any increase is in non traditional trade areas, such as retail or fast food outlet trainees.

They ignore too the fact that many of those commencing training are not actually finishing the course for whatever reason.

It is in the traditional trade areas, such as construction, manufacturing and mining that major shortages exist.

It is putting at risk our future productivity and prosperity.

These Australian Technical Colleges were devised as policy on the run, and announced with minimal planning or consultation.

They were devised as a means of competing against existing Labor state and territory TAFE systems with a requirement for staff to be on AWA’s. So they were governed not by any sound educational reasoning but pure Liberal ideology.

They were far too little and too late, and as so often happens with policy on the run they were established in a hurry, with inadequate planning and time.

A report by the ANOA, released in July, into these ATC’s found that too little attention had been paid to state and territory governments; initial tender processes and applications were weak and inadequate and that there had been limited choice among applicants.

In nearly half of the first 24 colleges there were as few as 1 or 2 applications. A fairly under whelming response from the business world.

The ANAO found that in one region the program had to address significant issues because of the co existence of a new college with existing State schools.

The ANAO found that the Commonwealth should have carried out greater risk assessments of organisations bidding to set up and run the colleges.

None of this should have been surprising as applications were largely from businesses or groups thereof who, with all the best will in the world, were totally inexperienced at submitting for educational facilities.

Additional work had been required with the Department on many applications in order to finalise them with proper costing or business plans.

The ANOA believed that many applications were so weak that a better option may have been to return to the market and try again. However, as usual with this complacent and arrogant government they refused to consider doing this.

While an average school may well be up to 4 years in the planning and establishment, four of these ATC’s were open within just 6 months of being approved. Again government claims this as a positive move—but the ANAO report held otherwise.

As a result these ATC’s, first announced as part of the 2004 election promises, have not produced one graduate—that is 3 years and nearly half a billion dollars down the track. Indeed there is no immediate sign of any graduates even this year.

The ATC’s have been at best a poor policy also badly executed and at worst a cynical political exercise

There are still well under 2000 students enrolled while the target was for some 7500. Again the Minister tries to put sufficient spin on this fact to claim they are well on target for enrolments. Sad for the government their spin doctors are running out of words.

Most of those colleges that are open have to outsource the bulk of their training to existing schools, TAFE’s or other Registered Training Organisations as only one third of them are actually registered training organisations in their own right.

Furthermore, to add insult to injury not all students enrolled have been able to find employers to give them apprenticeships, which was an essential part of this concept. Despite government claims of great acceptance by business of these colleges, this seems not be wholly true either.

Critics say that these colleges duplicated existing state programs, government estimates of enrolments had been over estimated and costs had blown out. All of these are of course absolutely true.

Many then are in effect “virtual colleges” with a staff only of administrators, but no teachers or actual facilities other than an office or so.

Despite this the government still try to blame the skills shortage on the states for past neglect and insist that these colleges are going great guns. This despite the fact that enrolments in traditional State and Territory TAFE colleges continue to rise while ATC’s struggle to get the numbers.

Just how out of touch with national needs and lack of progress can you get? How much spin can a government try to bamboozle the electorate? Fortunately for Australia it seems that the nation has ceased to believe or accept the vast amounts of spin put on reality by an out of touch and out of favour government.

The Australian Technical Colleges were a political fix for what was a long running policy failing, and so it is not surprising that they are nowhere near achieving a solution to our skills shortage, neither will they, with under 10000 graduates expected by 2010 while the government even admits to a skills shortage of 200,000 workers in the next 5 years.

In order to seriously address the skills shortage Australia must invest in the existing TAFE’s which continue to deliver the vast bulk of post secondary VET.

We need to put more resources into VET in schools and on the job training.

Only Labor has such a positive policy proposal for Trades Training Centres aimed at the one million students from year 9 up in our secondary schools.

This will give all secondary students a chance of working and learning in the traditional trades areas.

They will be assisted to access one day a week of on the job training, all of which will go towards their Job Ready Certificate.

Despite all the shortcomings of ATC’s as policy, Labor will not close any of them.

While the establishment of 3 more colleges in an election year could be seen just as a cynical political move, any TAFE funding increase is better than what has happened over the past decade.

Labor will support this bill but condemns the Federal Government for failing to act to address the growing skills needs of the national economy.

But this Government has failed to ensure that young Australians could get the skills training they need for skilled jobs.

It has cut funding to VET by 13% from 1997 to 2000 and only increasing by 1% from 2000 to 2004, and created an expensive and duplicative network of stand alone Australian Technical Colleges with little consultation or cooperation with the states and territories.

The best this government can do is appropriate half a billion dollars for 30 colleges that will at best produce only 10000 graduates by 2010 when the government itself estimates a skill shortage of 200,000 skilled workers and it’s record will show that it has put at risk the future of so many young Australians and our future prosperity.

Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

I welcome the opportunity to add my voice to those already heard in this place concerning the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007.

The purpose of this Bill is to implement a 2007-08 budget measure for the establishment and operation of three additional Australian Technical Colleges.

These ATCs, Scheduled to open by 2009, will cater for approximately 900 students and will be located in Northern Perth, Southern Brisbane and the greater Penrith region of New South Wales.

Labor supports the Bill in the interests of movement towards alleviating Australia’s acute skills shortage, but continues to hold reservations about the present and future effectiveness of what has already been exposed as a—characteristically—cynical and politically motivated scheme.

Labor’s Shadow Minister spoke to a second reading amendment on 7 February and again on 9 August this year, expressing his concerns…concerns about the program’s value and effectiveness, but also its inefficient and very costly implementation to date at the expense of an already established—though neglected—vocational training infrastructure.

I, too, have previously addressed the issues related to the Government’s hasty policy making and implementation with regard to skills training.

There are 21 ATCs currently operating. Four more are to open in 2008, with the three new ATCs to commence operations in 2009.

Current estimates show that 8,400 students will be enrolled across Australia when all ATCs are fully operational which is expected to be in 2009.

8,400 students enrolled…However, it is estimated that more than 200,000 skilled workers will be needed in Australia over the next five years.

Indeed, according to the Government’s own projections, 240,000 more skilled workers will be needed by 2016.

And the first graduate from the Australian Technical Colleges is not expected until 2010.

And my research reveals that when these students graduate from the ATC, they will have the approximate equivalent of one third of an apprenticeship… what this means is that graduates will likely have approximately one and half years of a three to four year apprenticeship …

So in fact, even those graduating from an Australian Technical College in 2010, will be between two and three years away from being the skilled workers we so desperately need …

So what has the Howard Government been doing for 11 years to address Australia’s skills shortage?

In the year 2005, the unmet demand for education and training places in TAFE institutes was 34,200. That is 34,200 people who wanted a place but could not get one …

In the same year, the unmet demand in the whole of the vocational education training sector was 45,100. These are not just figures; these are 45,100 real people with real families who wanted to embark on training to gain skills…real people who were turned away.

Forty-five thousand Australians who potentially could have graduated as skilled workers this year or next year …

There have also been concerns raised about the overall impact on the institutions already up and running in the TAFE and VET sectors, which could be providing the skills training …

The average expenditure for each student who goes through the Australian technical colleges will exceed by thousands of dollars the average expenditure for each student in TAFE.

In addition to the set-up and operational costs that we are discussing here today, Australian technical colleges are entitled to all of the funding available to schools under the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004.

They are also entitled to general recurrent funding per student, most of them at the non-government school rate.

They will also have available to them targeted funding for special programs and capital funding.

The ATCs will also receive the relevant state funding. And they will receive all this, while the Howard government fails to make a genuine commitment to our existing TAFE system.

Instead of working in partnership with already established vocational providers and tapping into the existing expertise to maximise training outcomes, the Howard government embarked upon a course of its own …

So what led to us standing here today, what was the process and why are we back here again amending this Bill …

There is no doubt that the establishment and operation of ATCs has not gone to plan.

On 30 March 2005 DEST invited submissions from consortia—which included government and non-government schools, registered training organisations, local councils, industry bodies and local businesses—to establish colleges. The closing date was 20 May 2005. This allowed a period of some seven weeks for the preparation of submissions! A total of 73 proposals were received, four after the closing date. All were assessed by DEST.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) Report released—two months ago—clearly sets out the problems that have resulted from the Government’s approach.

Among other issues, the Auditor General refers to the inadequate period of time allocated for the planning and implementation of the program.

The ANAO report raises concern about this haste stating:

“The policy provided DEST with little time to plan for the establishment of the colleges. The new schools had to be established in far less time than is usual for new schools, which can take three to four years of preparation before acceptance of their first students.  This limited time made more difficult DEST’s tasks of selecting the best educational and financial models to achieve the programme’s objectives.”

Among the consequences of this were:

• Insufficient time to allow the preparation of well-developed, thoroughly costed proposals … resulting, in many instances, in little or no choice in consortia available to DEST;
• Inadequate consultation with state and territory government education authorities and relevant organisations, with the result that existing systems and infrastructure have been duplicated. The Auditor General states that a formal, ongoing strategy to deal with the interests of State and Territory governments ‘would have been beneficial’, as these are key stakeholders in implementing the program and have, after all, experience in the provision of secondary schooling;
• Duplication of curriculum areas: each ATC develops its own training curriculum for the same, small number of trades and small numbers of students—which is both time consuming and costly;
• Waste of public funds in pursuit of a quick political fix: of the five colleges visited during the audit, the Auditor General examined two in detail; DEST advised him that each of the two colleges were required to open with minimal planning in order to meet the very tight establishment time…and that each had to rent and refurbish premises for one or two years while permanent buildings were designed or identified;
• Development of policy ‘on the run’: as the Report acknowledges, given the short period allowed for planning and implementation of the ATCs … DEST was obliged to develop policy and procedures ‘as the program progressed’;
• Over estimation of the number of students to be enrolled in 2006: three of the first five operating ATCs signed Funding Agreements in December 2005 and one of these opened in August 2006. As the Audit Report comments, ‘signing Funding Agreements close to the opening date and not commencing at the start of the school year is likely to adversely impact on the number of enrolments’ .

There are also issues related to the Government’s direct funding of the consortia via Funding Agreements.

• A significant number of initial business plans and proposed budgets required additional work. DEST informed the Government that although successful applicants could be announced, this further work would be required before DEST could finalise Funding Agreements. To announce ‘successful’ consortia for short-term political purposes, in circumstances such as these, shows a very nonchalant disregard of proper financial management;
• The Audit Report notes that the typical Funding Agreement ‘provides funding by way of grants based on the application of the individual college, not by the use of a formula based on student numbers; Given the number of students currently enrolled—only 1800 in total—this strategy can hardly represent acceptable deployment of taxpayers’ monies;

The Auditor General’s report reveals that ATCs leasing land or buildings, or carrying out capital improvements with public funds, are obliged under the Funding Agreement to enter into a Purposes Agreement with the Commonwealth—if requested by DEST.

In one instance documented in the ANAO Report, an ATC had spent approximately $M6 refurbishing a leased property, but no Purposes Agreement had been signed. The landowner in this instance was known to the Commonwealth to be an established institution.

Cleary, though, neglecting to execute a Purposes Agreement in such circumstances must increase the risk that the Commonwealth would have limited recourse to funded assets, in the event that an ATC ceased to operate on, or before completion of, a Funding Agreement.

This episode provides yet more evidence that the scheme has been poorly thought out and implemented, and is fraught with potential difficulties such as those I have just outlined.

I understand that conflicts of interest have emerged and that mingling of operational and capital funding has occurred. When asked about a particular instance, DEST advised the

Auditor General, significantly, that:

‘In this case the imperative to establish the College quickly determined the need to procure items urgently … to meet the very tight establishment time frames … DEST went on to say These colleges have been required to open a school with minimal planning time… It is inevitable that no existing buildings would satisfy the educational requirements of the colleges, thus refurbishment has been necessary in all such instances… DEST concluded saying This approach reflects the Government’s objective to open the colleges as quickly as possible …’;

• In another instance outlined in the Report, potential conflicts of interest around leasing, employment and the provision of services emerged in an ATC. While a subsequent inquiry revealed no undue gain to companies associated with ATC board members, the Audit Report indicates that competitive quotes and a rental valuation had not been obtained, and no formal contracts had been entered into by the parties.

The dangers inherent in such a hasty approach, coupled with insufficient scrutiny of transactions, need hardly be spelt out.

The Auditor General’s Report reveals also:

• undue haste
• poor planning
• insufficient consultation
• duplication of resources
• inattention to issues of governance and risk
• ever-increasing cost
• inadequate levels of operational scrutiny,
• and potential for the loss of objectivity in decision making with regard to public funds.

The process applied in the establishment of the Australian Technical Colleges is another example of how this government has neglected, downgraded and failed to act in so many areas … until compelled by electoral imperatives, of course—with the result being, poorly drafted legislation and planning that is rushed …

For 11 years under this government vocational education and skills training have been systematically neglected—more accurately, systematically downgraded…

The Government refused to adequately invest in our TAFE system…the system established to deal with post-secondary vocational education and training …

The Government has squandered the goodwill and co-operation of education partners in its pursuit of ideological goals, and is reaping a pitiful harvest in the form of an ever more pressing skills crisis in this country.

Once out of touch and complacent, now out of touch and panic-stricken, this government has failed time and time again to deal with the real issues that confront families and workers every day.

High among these, as I have said, are the skills shortage that continues to critically impact Australian industry, and the need for effective skills training—now and in the years to come.

The Howard government has failed to make provision for Australia’s long-term, productive future. 

A Labor government would maintain the established ATCs but would transfer their management into the state-based skills and training education system…this could include the TAFE system, the Catholic or Independent Secondary system, an industry skills and training arrangement or  even industry itself. And this would be done through consultation with all interested parties and as contractual agreements allow.

And a Labor government would provide $2.5 billion in capital funding over 10 years to build new trades training centres in Australia’s secondary schools to promote vocational education for students in Years 9 to 12.

This commitment would be supported by programs targeting stronger links between schools and industry and improving student access to on-the-job training.

To give a young Australian the chance to get ahead, to maximise his or her potential, to take a valued place in a forward-looking, contemporary society, is one of the  important things a Labor Government would do … for the sake of all our futures …

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

The Bill before us—the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007 provides funding for three more Australian Technical colleges—announced in this year’s budget.

This bill will amend the ATC Act to allow for an additional $74.7 million in funding for the three additional Australian Technical Colleges announced in the 2007-08 Budget.  This appropriation will take the total cost of establishing 28 colleges to $548 million.

Now the skills crises did not just happen over night—the skills crisis we know has arisen as a result of complacency and neglect by this government—despite warnings for many years about skills shortages.  This Government has presided over a skills shortage of 200,000 and what do we see from the Australian Technical Colleges initiative. These colleges will see less than 10,000 graduates by 2010.

Having illustrated that this initiative is patently inadequate and is more about a political fix for this government—a government that becomes more out of touch and arrogant as each day passes. 

Labor will not oppose the bill, as we are willing to support, in principle measures that are, in theory, aimed at addressing the skills crisis facing our country.

Indeed not withstanding the flaws of the Government’s ATC plan, Labor has committed not to close the colleges down, if elected.

Enough money has been wasted already duplicating infrastructure for the purposes of political gain.

So Labor will not be tearing up contracts.  We won’t be closing ATCs.

Labor is committed to sitting down with relevant parties when the contracts do expire to work out the best and most appropriate way of folding the management of the ATC’s into the state based systems.

This just makes sense. Why have separate systems working against each other that are working towards achieving the same goal?

Having said that, one thing needs to be made quite clear—the ATC’s—the Howard Government’s attempt at fixing the skills shortage facing this country is unfortunately nothing more than a blatantly political answer to what is a serious practical problem.

Everything about it smells of politicking and the poor performance figures of the existing colleges sadly prove this.

The Minster for Vocational and Further Education, Mr Andrew Robb recently attempted to claim that there had been an increase in the number of apprentice completions in the last four years.

However what Mr Robb did not say is less than half of completions in 2006 were in the traditional trades- such as plumbers, carpenters and electricians—where we face the most acute skills shortages.

And while the Minster tries to beat up figure to mask 11 years of neglect in the lead up to this years election—the skills crisis in Australia continues.

Indeed according to the Governments own figures, Australia will face a shortage of more than 200,000 skilled workers over the next five years.

Why?  Because for 11 long years the Government has chosen to sit on its hand and to under invest in traditional trades training.

Because it decided to slash funding to the existing state-based TAFE systems ,with commonwealth revenues in vocational education decreasing—when they should have been increasing—by 13% between 1997-2000 and only increasing by a pitiful 1% from 2000-2004.

Indeed it has been estimated that the Governments grave neglect and under funding in this area has resulted in over 325,000 people—seeking trades training and skills—being forcibly turned away from TAFE training facilities since 1996.

There is not doubt that the Howard Governments neglect of the traditional trades is responsible for the situation we find ourselves in today.

And the Government’s solution?

To establish around 28  ATC’s in  ‘nominated’ regions around the country—90% of which are unsurprisingly located in marginal electorates—such as Bass and Braddon, in Tasmania, at a cost of around half a billion dollars.

They have chosen snub and shun the existing state-based TAFE system—preferring to spend tax-payers dollars on building duplicate facilities to compete with that of the states.

The result?

After three years and more than half and billion dollars the Governments ATC’s the fact are these:

• have not yet produced a single graduate
• Only 1800 enrolments
• Just two out of 21 colleges are meeting their 2007 enrolment targets
• An average cost of nearly $175,000 per student
• Only one third of colleges legally registered to provide training; and
• Outsource the bulk of their training to TAFEs or registered training organisations.

Indeed according to the Minister for Vocational and Further Education only nine of the current 21 colleges have no involvement with the TAFE system. So what exactly is the ½ billion in tax-payers money actually going to?

With currently only 1,800 enrolments on total, and some colleges struggling to find apprentices for students that have enrolled—it does not look like there is much end in sight to the skills crisis facing Australia.

This is the Government’s answer to the skills crisis problem it has created over the past eleven years. This is the best that it could come up with.

This is so typical of this government—a government that for a long time now has and will continue to under invest in essential ‘infrastructure’ such as trades training. 

It just proves that for a long time now—this government has been hiding behind the economic prosperity of the mining boom—but yet has had no real plan for the future.

And here we are—three years on from the 2004 political stunt that is the ATCs and with another federal election looming all we have from this Government is to duplicate the states trades training system, spend millions of dollars doing it and not even produce one single graduate!

And it is not just in the case of trades training that the Governments lack of vision for the future is being exposed.

It has for the past 11 years it has placed its head in the sand and denied the reality and threat of climate change.

It has failed to come up with a ‘broadband’ solution for all Australians.

And it has ignored the struggle faced by many families around Australia when it comes to managing their everyday living costs—whether it be paying the mortgage, rent, or paying for childcare, groceries and petrol.

This Government just does not get it. It has proven that it does not comprehend what is needed in the short term to ease the pressure on working families in this country—many of which are at breaking point—or what is needed in the long-term keep our economy strong after the mining boom diminishes.

Indeed, the way in which it has chosen to respond, after 11 long years on neglect, to the skills crisis facing this country is illustrative of just how this government operates- slapping together a political appeasing, short-term policy targeted at voters in marginal electorates in an attempt to ensure that they retain power at the next election.

There is no long-term plan for the future, no genuine commitment to overcoming the problem faced and no real policy that is likely to bring about real results.

It is the lack of results and the duplication of the state based system that has led to Labor retaining strong reservations about the effectiveness of the Australian Technical Colleges program and its capacity to genuinely combat the severe shortage of skilled labour in the country.

Enrolment figures discovered during Budget Estimates reveal that just two of the 21 existing colleges are meeting their enrolment targets.

Indeed the combined total of enrolments for the two Northern Tasmanian campuses located in Burnie and Launceston is just 120, 55 students short of the 175 student target.

So what is this going to mean?

Economic growth in areas like that of Burnie and Devonport on the North-West Coast of Tasmania that are currently experiencing a period of increased development will stunted because there is simply just not enough skilled tradesmen to keep up with the amount of work on offer.

Indeed this situation is not confined to the North-West- it is one relative to the whole state, with the Tasmanian Survey of Business Expectations for the March quarter 2007 noting that “the availability of suitable qualified employees continues to be the number one constraint on business.” in Tasmania.

Therefore government’s decision to opt for this short-term, ‘band-aid’ solution to the problem is not only failing to overcome the skills shortage, it is preventing and stifling economic growth in regional centres all across the country.

And what’s more, it is not only preventing economic growth but it is denying people that want to take advantage of jobs created through increased development the opportunity to work, because they are unable to access the requisite trades training.

These are the kind of situations that we have to look forward to under the Government’s short-sighted, politically motivated plan.

It is clear that the immediate solution to such a skills shortage is not going to be found in the technical college program- with enrolments not even coming close to refecting the demand for skilled labour.

Skill shortages are holding back businesses and denying opportunities to young Australians:

• A survey of more than 760 producers by the Australian Industry Group report, Australia’s Skills Gap: Costly, Wasteful and Widespread, one in two firms are experiencing difficulties obtaining skilled labour; and yet,
• according to another Ai Group report, It’s Crunch Time, one in five young adults have not completed year 12 or a Certificate III vocational qualification.

Inadequate workforce skills have contributed to Australia’s declining productivity performance in recent years—putting at risk our long term economic prosperity.

Skill shortages have also been identified by the Reserve Bank as being a factor contributing to higher inflation and interest rates.

What is needed is an approach that utilises existing institutions and structures and allows kids to receive the training they require, right from high school.

In contrast to the Government’s approach, Labor has announced that its $2.5 billion Trades Training Centres plan aimed at helping the 1 million students in Years 9, 10, 11 and 12 in all of Australia’s 2,650 secondary schools access trades-based training.

The plan will provide secondary schools with between $500,000 and $1.5 million to build or upgrade trades training facilities and provide $84 million to ensure all vocational education and trades training students get one day a week of on the job training for 20 weeks a year.

It will also see the development of new Job Ready Certificate as a statement of a student’s readiness for work in addition to a Year 12 Certificate and any separate vocational education and training qualification.

Labor’s plan is aimed at tackling the skills crisis head on, by providing all Australian’s with the opportunity to access trades-based training- not just those that live in marginal electorates.

And of course Kevin Rudd and Labor recently announced the establishment of Skills Australia—if Labor wins the election.  

Skills Australia, will be an independent statutory body to advise government on fixing the nation’s skills crisis—which is expected to worsen.

Government’s own research shows we will need 240,000 more skilled workers by 2016 to ensure our economic future.

Skills Australia will play a central role to ensure we lock in a full-employment economy and developing a highly skilled and innovative workforce for the future.

Skills Australia will provide government with recommendations about the future skill needs of the country.

The recommendations made by Skills Australia will help inform government decisions to encourage skill formation and drive ongoing reform to make our education and training system more responsive to business and economic needs of the nation.

Skills Australia will make sure that the skills crisis we are currently suffering from doesn’t happen again—because Labor will have a national approach to it.

For too long kids in this country been lead to believe that a university degree was the only desirable qualification.

For too long, this government has neglected to acknowledge the crucial role that workers with trades based qualifications play in keep this country running and afloat.

This neglect is reflected not only in their under funding of trades training over the past eleven years but also in their Industrial Relations reforms that deny such workers, along with the rest of the country—their basic rights and conditions.

A Government that respected and acknowledged the hard work and long hours that the majority of these trades-based workers put in would not put in place laws that take away their basic rights and conditions.

Workers in trade-based industries—such as plumbers and electricians—because of the nature of the industry—more often than not are forced to work long hours in substandard conditions to get jobs done.

They often incur situations that put then in a relative degree of danger and are forced to be on call during traditional non-working hour times.

These are the people that keep things running in our towns and cities—they are the ones behind the scenes-making sure everything works and are often the one’s called upon to  avert disaster.

They should be not only valued but acknowledged for the vital role they play.

But for eleven long years the government has chosen to neglect the valuable role that such workers play—by under investing in trades based training and stripping many existing tradies of their basic rights and conditions in the work place.

This Government after eleven long years in power—roaming the corridors of parliament—have lost touch with the people of Australia and what is needed to see this country prosper into the future.

They have forgotten what it really takes to make things work in this country.

Labor has committed to keeping the existing ATC’s open, if it wins the election.

Labor also has chosen to support this bill, not wanting to deny any initiative aimed at in theory aiding the skills shortage in the country.

But when all is said and done the Governments ATC’s policy proves one thing—that this is a government that is short-sighted, election driven and out of touch.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

I rise in the chamber today to regarding the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill, 2007.

As a growing body of evidence shows, long-term social and economic outcomes are significantly influenced by the investment that nations make in the education and training of their people.

On measures of pre-school, school, vocational and tertiary education research, Australia has fallen well behind its competitors. We need an education revolution. We must lift the quantity of investment in education and the quality of education outcomes.

We cannot afford to waste the talent and potential of any Australian. We must set for ourselves a new national vision—for Australia to become the most educated country, the most skilled economy and the best trained workforce in the world.

Labor believes that Australia’s economic prosperity can only be guaranteed by training a highly-skilled workforce. Vocational education and training helps Australians develop skills to obtain and perform effectively in secure, sustainable and satisfying employment, and to use those skills to ensure our national economic prosperity. Labor will invest in those skills.

While Labor supports additional expenditure in the critical area of vocational education and training, we recognise that the Australian technical Colleges are a political, duplicative response, and, in essence, do not address the serious skills shortage in Australia.

By the governments own estimates, Australia faces a skills shortage of more than 200,000 skilled workers over the next 5 years. Again, using the Governments own figures, Australian Technical Colleges can’t produce any graduates until 2010.

In order to seriously address the magnitude of the current skills crisis, Australia must focus on the areas of maximum impact, including in TAFE and on the job training.

I wish to reiterate Stephen Smith’s comment that labor DOES NOT oppose implementation by the government of its 2004 election commitment.

But, I wish to make this point clear- After three years and more than half a billion dollars, the Howard Governments Australian Technical Colleges to date have not produced one single graduate.

The cold reality of the Australian Technical Colleges is this:

• There are only 1800 enrolments in the entire country
• These technical colleges are not addressing the skills shortage
• The average cost of the training for each student comes to a staggering $175, 000
• Only one-third of the colleges are currently legally registered to provide training
• And ... they have outsourced the bulk of their training to TAFES and other registered training organisations

Disappointing, but true.

Only a Labor government will take a sensible approach to address the skills shortages in Australia. A Rudd Labor government is committed to utilising the infrastructure and expertise that TAFE can offer.

Furthermore, A Rudd Labor Government will use Vocational education in schools and on the job trades training to address the skills crisis.

While the Howard government is only concerned about getting re-elected by building a network of Australian technical colleges in coalition and marginal seats, Labor is serious about addressing the magnitude of the current skills crisis facing the Australian community.

Labor has announced a 10 year, $2.5 billion trades training centres plan aimed at the 1.2 million students in years 9, 10, 11 and 12 in Australians secondary schools.

As well as providing infrastructure to improve vocational education and trades training in secondary schools, labor has another plan ...

Labor will introduce a job ready certificate for all VET and training-in schools students. This is an initiative that would assess the job readiness of secondary school students engaged in trades and vocational education and training.

Students will obtain the Job Ready Certificate through on the job training placements as part of Labor’s Trades Training Centres in Schools Plan.

The Job Ready Certificate will be a stand alone statement of a student’s readiness for work and will be in addition to a Year 12 Certificate and any separate VET qualification.

The certificate will provide students who complete secondary school with an increased focus and awareness of the skills necessary in the modern workplace.

I believe this is a fresh approach to an area that definitely needs reform.

Federal Labor is committed to making education and training more responsive to the needs of industry. Australia’s ability to meet the growing need for skilled employees across the country is crucial to ensuring our future prosperity.

Labor understands the emerging and ongoing skill shortages faced by business must be addressed. Australia’s skills base can only be secured through a sustained commitment to providing training opportunities for more Australians.

This task cannot be left to government alone. Labor will encourage more businesses to increase their local training programs, rather than turning to temporary skilled migration.

Labor believes that Australia’s skill needs will only be secured through lasting solutions, such as expanded education and training opportunities complemented by a balanced skilled migration program with an emphasis on permanent migration.

Labor supports the development of a genuinely national system of vocational education and training, with increased resources from government and employers for growth and for improved quality. This will include strategies to improve and modernise vocational education and training to provide contemporary programs that meet the changing needs of students, industry and the community.

Labor supports a national training system underpinned by a national qualifications framework, with nationally recognised and portable qualifications, and interstate recognition of the registration of training providers consistent with national registration standards and auditing processes.

Labor is committed to maintaining the integrity of Australian trade qualifications and ensuring that there is an effective and thorough system in place to recognise skills obtained both domestically and overseas, so that qualifications consistent with Australia’s national training system are recognised, including through rigorous and effective trades recognition and skills assessment in the electrical and metal trades.

Labor recognises the important role played by TAFE as the public provider of quality training to assist the government in achieving its policy goals for economic development and social justice, and in meeting the technical and further education needs of the Australian community.

Labor supports a cooperative approach between the Commonwealth, States and Territories to maintain and further develop a high quality, national vocational education and training system built upon nationally agreed objectives, strategies and planning processes.

TAFE has suffered 11 years of funding cuts.

Labor has come up with this plan to rectify the Howard governments neglect.

Its no secret that the Australian technical colleges are not working...

In my home state of Tasmania, the Examiner Newspaper reported that the Launceston Technical College is operating at less than 70% capacity, with only 120 places being filled out of a target of 170.

The Howard government has spent 11 years with their head in the sand. They have failed the young Australians of this country with their complacency. Its high time the Howard government own up to their grave mistakes and take responsibility.

Australia’ ability to meet he growing need for skilled employees across the country is crucial for the future prosperity of the nation. I, like Kevin Rudd, make no apologies for valuing vocational education. I believe a trade certificate is just as good as a university degree. We are facing a serious skills crisis in Australia, and this Bill does little to address that.

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

Mr Acting Deputy President, this Bill seeks to do one simple thing:

Appropriate $74.7 million to establish three new Australian Technical Colleges.

Since the Government has the numbers in this place, it’s a fait accompli.

Nevertheless, the policy and politics on which this program is based are another indication of how the Howard Government has lost its way.

The need for fresh investment in technical training in Australia is chronic.

That’s indicated in convincing detail in Labor’s policy paper:

New Directions for Vocational Education and Training, released last May.

The economic imperatives are obvious to anyone.

Especially to employers at this time, when demand for skilled labour is going through the roof.

At the same time, we’ve young people in large numbers not completing Year 12.

It’s estimated that in 2006:

540,000 young Australians aged 16-24 were not engaged full time in work or learning.

That’s a disgraceful waste when skilled labour is so scarce.

So completion rates must be improved.

To do that, education and training must be made more relevant.

The social and economic consequences of not doing so are dramatic.

The detail’s set out in Labor’s policy paper, so I shan’t elaborate.

Except to note that almost nothing is being done about it.

And that includes this Bill.

That’s because the Howard Government, as it has done in so many areas, including:

• Education
• Heath, and
• Aboriginal Affairs

has savagely cut budgets year after year.

Then—of course—as an election nears, the purse strings are cut and “new” policies begin to flow.

They’re from a Born Again government suddenly realising the errors of its doctrinaire ways over the past 11 years.

Is it any wonder the electorate is totally cynical?

This Bill, providing $74 million for technical education, is part of this last-minute panic.

Just like the urgent Murray-Darling water panic.

Just like the Mersey hospital panic in Tasmania last week.

This is all part of the new policy on federalism – which I’ll turn to later.

Between 1997 and 2000, the Howard Government cut funding for technical education by 13 per cent.

Since then it’s only increased by one per cent.

It’s estimated that since 1998, 325,000 potential TAFE students have been turned away from entry.

That’s scandalous.

The conservative, self-satisfied attitude of the Howard Government places no premium on education.

Is it any wonder we’re facing the crisis of a national skills shortage?

Let me turn now to the Australian Technical Colleges program, to which this Bill appropriates further funding.

In 2004 the Howard Government—again recognising the folly of its funding cuts in the face of skill shortages—announced it would create 24 new technical colleges across Australia.

These colleges were to be located in industrial growth areas.

That’s code for areas of political interest to the Government’s electoral ambitions.

So the new colleges have been set down for, Northern Perth, Southern Perth, Queanbeyan (in the marginal electorate of Eden Monaro), ditto Northern Tasmania, Western Sydney, Northern Adelaide and so on and on the list goes.

Twenty one of these colleges are now operating and this Bill will bring the total to 28.

Eventually, 8400 students will be enrolled to complete the final two years of school while working as apprentices.

Currently, 21 are operational with 1800 students attending.

That’s way below the target.

Normally, one would expect any added investment in education to be welcomed with great acclaim.

The chronic need in technical training I’ve already referred to.

But in this case—just as with the Mersey hospital—it makes no sense at all.

The simple failure is that all Australian states have technical education programs of rapidly increasing size and quality.

This Howard Government adventure is nothing but duplication.

Moreover, it’s expensive duplication.

An estimate is that the cost per student of this model is $175,000 per head.

So question becomes:

Why has the Prime Minister embarked on this crazy program, knowing there’s an existing system of technical education, growing in quality and competence?

The answer is simple:

The complete failure of the Howard Government to work with the states, which have the constitutional authority.

One might ask: why haven’t the states co-operated?

Again the answer is simple.

The program mandates the application of Australian Workplace Agreements for all staff.

The program’s just another Trojan horse for the application of the Howard Government’s ideological approach to the creation of a labour market as contained in its “Workchoices” legislation.

That’s the legislation now rejected by the electorate, as the Government now realises, too late.

This ATC program is fatally flawed.

It’s grossly expensive and it’s a complete duplication.

The fact that it’s managed within the community with industry participation may be an attraction.

But when compared with:

Measures of value-for-money, and

The need for greater systemic planning and co-ordination, that matters little.

One can only wonder at the boost technical training would receive if this budget were dedicated to the state-based systems.

The Prime Minister’s clearly frustrated at his failure to secure state agreement.

It’s where the Commonwealth lacks the constitutional power in our federal system.

That’s despite the repeated photo opportunities—invariably after COAG—showing great displays of harmony and bonhomie.

But state support has always been forthcoming.

So it’s wrong of the Prime Minister to blame the states for his own shortcomings.

Including on educational issues, such as the need for national curricula.

The states, sensibly, detect political purpose, self-promotion and inefficiency.

They’re naturally suspicious of political dogma and crude opportunism.

In this case, the Trojan horse of Workchoices.

Sadly it’s the important issues of education and health which are being used as wedges of power and politics.

This program and this Bill are but further examples.

Let me turn to the recent report by ANAO on this Program and its management by the Department of Education and Training.

I regret to say the ANAO report struggles, as it must, to deal with the real issues with this ATC program.

That’s because the policy is given.

And it’s not the role of the ANAO to be critical of that policy, no matter how stupid and illogical it might be.

It is possible, however, to read between the lines because all the inferences of political imperative are writ large …

Though disguised in top-class bureaucratese.

Nowhere is the political imperative more obvious than in the speed with which this program was established.

The ex-minister (as he is now), was hardly one for niceties, such as the process and detail necessary to establish such a program from scratch.

Knowing the reputation of that minister serves only to add to our suspicion.

As we know he’s no longer a minister.

And that’s quite a feat in the Howard Government.

May I suggest, the ANAO’s comment, that:

“Such ventures might normally be expected to take several years rather than 18 months” is code for concern that lots of corners were cut.

Indeed they were.

Later audits undertaken, when the political imperative has subsided, might see a more critical and forensic examination of such shortcomings.

The ANAO, however, is very polite.

For example, the lack of cooperation with state governments, resulting in this duplication, is expressed in a recommendation that:

“DEST develop and implement an approach for the Australian Technical Colleges to share better practice and approaches to training.”

In other words,

DEST should co-operate with the states.

Well they won’t and they can’t.

That’s because the Howard Government wants to take over the field and have its own way.

Canberra knows better.

DEST interpreted this narrowly as involving only the ATC system, with reference only to sharing of curriculum and program development between themselves.

All of which is already available in the states, in many new and innovative Vocational Education Training programs.

The development by each ATC of its own curriculum referred to at paragraph 2.16, quote

“For the same small number of trades”

is particularly wasteful.

This is indeed a very gentle ANAO report.

But there are plenty of other clues about problems which are worth noting.

For example, concern for the capacity of commercial organisations, unfamiliar with Commonwealth tendering and contracting policy, to comply with financial agreements.

In other words, the risks were not properly taken into consideration, so what improprieties were there?

There’s also some understated concerns at capital investment being inappropriate.

Especially in property of third parties without protection of the Commonwealth interest.

It shows a failure to assess the supply of educational facilities with respect to existing state resources.

That’s what happens with wasteful duplication.

And that’s another sign of impetuosity and political desperation.

Reading between the lines of this ANAO report, I suspect there’s much more to be revealed.

Apart from the obvious matters I’ve referred to already:

Financial management

Governance, and

Risk assessment are all major concerns.

But not dealt with adequately in any detail.

Perhaps we’ll never know.

That’s because it’s Labor policy that these extravagant new colleges be transferred to the states.

We can’t abide waste and we’re not interested in the policies of division and competition for power.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to incorporate my speech summing up the second reading debate.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007 demonstrates the continued commitment from the Australian Government to invest in measures aimed at meeting the future skills needs of the nation and promoting the value of trade based education.

The additional funding provided under this Bill will ensure that a further three Australian Technical Colleges can be established in the regions of greater Penrith, northern Perth and southern Brisbane, adding to the existing 25 Colleges that have already been announced by the Government. These three new regions all have strong local industry support for the establishment of Colleges and have high unmet demand for skilled labour and many young people.

The benefit of these Colleges to these regions cannot be overstated. Once fully operational, up to 450 students will graduate from the additional Colleges every year. These young people will achieve their senior secondary certificate, as well as being up to one third of their way through an apprenticeship in a trade that is in an industry of need in their region. These students will be highly trained, having had exposure to the same state-of-the-art equipment used by industry. They will also be highly motivated, having had a high level of tailored support and mentoring that would not be available to them at other schools. They will have a strong foundation to continue with their preferred trade, having already worked in that industry area for up to two years and having received a specialised education that incorporates enterprise education, small business and employability skills.

The Australian Technical Colleges can only achieve these outcomes and become centres of excellence, lighthouses in trade training, if they are appropriately resourced.

The funding committed by the Government to the programme, $530.9 million over 7 years, shows how serious this Government is about raising the profile of vocational and technical education. This level of funding ensures that each College has the capacity to develop or access the latest machinery and equipment, and to employ or engage highly experienced and qualified teaching and vocational training staff. As these Colleges are specialised institutions, they are also able to offer a flexible and fully integrated education and training programme that allows students to complete the requirements of a senior secondary education and undertake trade training in a Certificate Ill Australian School-based Apprenticeship. As a result, students will be exposed to more realistic work experiences which will assist them in making a smoother transition into a full-time Australian Apprenticeship at the end of Year 12.

The Australian Technical Colleges programme will also go towards addressing the mistakes made 20 to 30 years ago when as a community we started to talk down the trades and we closed all the technical high schools around the country. About 60% of our modern workforce needs a high quality technical education. Currently only 30% have these skills. The Colleges will help to re-balance who does what, and help restore pride and excellence in trade skills training for young people. Encouraging more young people to consider a career in the traditional trades and to participate in the training is a vital and positive development for the training system as a whole.

Currently, 21 Colleges are already operating and more than 1,800 students are benefiting from the high quality education and training that the Colleges offer. This shows that the Australian people have recognised not only the benefits of the Colleges but also the benefits that a trade based and focused education can offer young people. The fact that five State Governments have followed the lead of the Australian Government by establishing their own trade schools is recognition of the importance to Australia’s future of having a pool of qualified trades people available to meet future skills needs.

Four more Colleges are expected to open in 2008, and the three additional Colleges that will be supported through the passage of this Bill will open in 2009. Industry, business and community support for the Colleges are the key reasons why Colleges have been able to be established in such short time frames. It normally takes an average of about three years to establish a new school. Yet the majority of the Australian Technical Colleges have been able to commence operations in a period of less than 18 months.

Industry leadership has proved to be the right model for the Colleges. Each College is driven by local industry, and responds directly to the specific needs of industry. This leadership not only ensures that students are trained and educated according to current industry requirements, it also facilitates the Colleges ability to network with local industry to promote the benefits of Australian School-based Apprenticeship arrangements and work directly with employers to determine the best model for on-the-job training. Already, students and employers are seeing the benefits of such partnerships and over the years the relationship with industry will only grow and improve the outcomes of the Colleges. This close alignment will also enhance young people’s prospects for further training and career development now and into the future within their local region.

Passage of this Bill will provide the necessary $74.701 million funding to develop an Australian Technical College in another three key regions of Australia and provide opportunities for young people that will not only improve their long term prospects but also the future of the region in which they live. It is clear that in the coming years, there will be a huge demand for Australians with trade and technical skills. The Australian Government recognises this situation and has implemented a number of initiatives to address this matter. The Australian Technical Colleges programme is just one of these initiatives and support for this Bill is crucial to the success of the programme.

I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.