Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to continue my remarks on the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Bill 2019. We cannot talk about a future that is just and that deals with the climate crisis and not talk about vocational education and training. Over the last decade, we have seen a decimation of our world-class TAFE, with massive funding cuts, increasing fees and privatisation of the sector which saw the entry of shonky providers, and this disaster needs to be reversed. Our TAFEs are vital for people to be able to gain and regain the skills needed for this transition and transformation. This is good for individuals but it is even better for all of society. Failing to fund them properly is incredibly short-sighted, and it's destructive, yet we've seen TAFE being slowly destroyed by the government's neglect, lack of funding and privatisation.

On vocational training the government says one thing and does another. They say they want to encourage people into trades, but then they underfund skills training by tens of millions of dollars. Labor and Liberal just recently teamed up to strip $4 billion from TAFEs and universities by abolishing the Education Investment Fund. Combined with this chronic underspend in skills funding, TAFE and their students are being starved of resources. Data shows us that student numbers have dropped by two per cent and that training hours are down by six per cent at a time when we are meant to be addressing the skills crisis and the jobs shortage. The motivation for the deliberate decimation of TAFE by state and federal governments is no mystery: they are ideologically opposed to the very principle of lifelong public education, particularly when there's a buck to be made for their friends and donors in for-profit education corporations by directing public funds their way.

The Greens are, and always will be, very proudly the party of public education. We are proud to support our TAFEs. The Greens have a plan to rebuild TAFE as the vocational training provider of choice for students. We will remove the Gillard-era contestable funding requirements and make TAFE and uni free for all, removing private for-profit providers entirely from federal funding of vocational training and giving as close to 100 per cent of federal training funding as possible to TAFEs. This is the bold vision that we need for our vocational educational training in Australia.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Bill 2019. This bill seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Australian Skills Quality Authority, known as ASQA, without significantly increasing the regulatory burden on prospective or current registered training organisations. A more efficient and effective assessment of our vocational education and training sector will ensure higher standards and better prepare those who undertake vocational training for their future endeavours.

The genesis of this change comes from two independent reviews: Professor Valerie Braithwaite's All eyes on quality review of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 and Strengthening skills: expert review of Australia’s vocational education and training system, by the Hon. Steven Joyce. These changes are part of the government's $18.1 million commitment to support and reform the national VET regulator, including improving engagement with the sector, ensuring that its regulatory approach is more effective, and ensuring better outcomes for students.

The bill includes a number of provisions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of regulation in the sector, and I'm proud to be part of a government that has such a strong focus on ensuring that our vocational education system is robust and student-focused. This bill will strengthen registration requirements for the sector by requiring training organisations to demonstrate commitment and capability to deliver quality training. This will ensure that enrolling students are confident in the education they are enrolling to receive.

Further, this bill will clarify that standards in relation to VET accredited courses are ongoing standards and that these standards must be met throughout the entirety of registration. This will ensure that standards do not slip after initial registration while ensuring that the overall regulatory requirements are not onerous or burdensome. Electronic data sharing will be facilitated with prescribed bodies, making it easier for students to move courses and to pick up where they left off if life gets in the way of their studies. Further to this, data sharing between ASQA, tuition assurance scheme operators and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research will be streamlined. This is going to reduce double handling and make the whole system more efficient. This in turn will mean that TAFEs and vocational education providers can spend more time focusing on students and less time on red tape compliance and data management. This is something that all stakeholders have been calling for. It will ensure that provisions in relation to written undertakings given to ASQA by registered training organisations are clarified so that they can apply to all requirements of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act.

Further, the bill will, importantly, provide the minister with the power to issue a direction to the regulator regarding the performance of its functions and exercise of its powers. This will ensure that the buck stops with the minister and that the minister has the power to intervene should things get out of hand or require intervention. It also provides a way, if necessary, to ensure that directives are carried out without being held up by step-by-step regulations. The bill also contains technical amendments that will streamline arrangements for commissioners and modernise corporate reporting requirements. This will bring the sector into line with expectations and allow it to be more responsive, adaptable and innovative.

The bill will also enable the Secretary of the Department of Education, Skills and Employment to release information to the public about training by registered training organisations and the outcomes and experiences of students attending registered training organisations. Feedback from employers of different RTOs will also be released. This will ensure full sector transparency and will allow prospective students to be fully informed about the quality of education they are likely to receive. Feedback from employers will be particularly useful, as the end goal of training should be to gain meaningful and rewarding employment.

The bill will also increase transparency of audit outcomes through the public release of audit reports by the regulator. This, again, will increase transparency and allow students and trainees to make an informed decision in relation to the training they undertake. These changes will act as a kind of market mechanism, weeding out underperforming and poorly run RTOs, and will ensure that new providers are not entering a market that is a certificate farm and that sees students more as a cash cow.

We are working on and fixing Labor's failed VET FEE-HELP scheme. Since 2016, over 66,500 students have had VET FEE-HELP loan debts of over $1 billion re-credited by the Commonwealth. Under Labor's disastrous VET FEE-HELP scheme, dodgy providers flourished and students were systematically exploited. They signed up and accumulated huge debts for training packages that were never delivered.

Some stakeholders have raised the potential for ASQA's release of audit papers to have a negative impact on the sector and have queried whether they're suitable for the public domain. So, through earlier consultations with the states and territories on this matter, care has been taken in this bill by this government to ensure that ASQA is not immediately required to publish audit reports once the amendments in the bills commence. Although more transparency is always a good thing, with the introduction of this legislation we do not want to see a rush to drastic reform and risk leaving behind or disadvantaging any providers. The government will work with stakeholders to identify appropriate information to include in published reports and will ensure that audit reports will not be published until after this consultation phase.

In October 2019, the government announced a rapid review of the Australian Skills Quality Authority, with a focus on the regulator's governance, policies and culture. This is complementary to these proposed legislative changes. The review is due for completion in March this year and will inform an ongoing program of reform to enhance ASQA's educative role and quality improvement approach. This will continue to support effective, modern regulation into the future, and the government will ensure that we have further announcements on the reform of ASQA in the future.

Further, some stakeholders have raised concerns that the amendments allowed for RTOs' registration to be cancelled with immediate effect. I want to put those concerns to rest, because this is not correct. The amendments in this bill do not change the natural justice requirements in the existing National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act. These provisions provide certainty to RTOs by guaranteeing that providers are notified of ASQA's intention to cancel, and provide time for RTOs to respond to the notice. The amendments provide ASQA with flexibility and discretion in determining when cancellation takes effect. This is designed so as to minimise the impact on students. The last thing we want to see is students leaving part-way through a course and being left high and dry, with no benefit from their investment. For example, it may be appropriate to allow a provider to continue operating for a period while its enrolled students complete their training, or to arrange for them to transfer to another training provider with full course carry-over credits.

This government is committed to the vocational education sector. We are a party that wants to see people get ahead—the quiet, aspirational Australians. We want to give them the opportunity to do that. Nothing says 'aspiration' more than investing in yourself through education. In the financial year 2019-20, we are investing over $3 billion in vocational education and training. This includes $1.5 billion given to the states and territories every year through the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development. We are spending $1.5 billion to fund the government's own skills programs, including employer initiatives and support for apprentices, with a particular focus on regional employment, and $175 million is going to the states and territories via the Skilling Australians Fund, to support increased apprenticeships and traineeship numbers, again with a focus on regional employment.

We are the party of education, at all levels. We have introduced VET student loans so that students can access financial support in order to gain their qualifications, safe in the knowledge that they will not be ripped off. This amendment seeks to continue to strengthen the sector. I look forward to voting for this amendment and I commend it to the Senate.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to sum up debate on the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Bill 2019. In doing so, I thank all colleagues who have contributed to the debate on the bill.

The bill will ensure that the national VET regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority, otherwise known as ASQA, is positioned to safeguard and enhance the reputation and integrity of Australia's vocational education and training sector. Last year the government committed $18.1 million to support reform of ASQA. These reforms will ensure that regulation of the VET sector is transparent and effective and is aligned with the modern best practice models of governance and engagement. The bill is the first step of changes to ASQA which respond to recommendations from the 2018 Braithwaite review into the regulator's primary legislation and the 2019 Joyce review of VET to ensure the legislation is fit for purpose.

The bill supports ASQA's move towards transparency, ensuring it is a balanced regulator that builds quality and capacity in the VET sector. These measures ensure ASQA has the necessary powers to regulate registered training organisations and ensure only those RTOs genuinely committed and adequately resourced to deliver our quality training to students are allowed to operate. Improved transparency of regulatory actions will occur with the public release of RTO audit reports once an appropriate format for these reports has been consulted on and agreed. This important measure will improve VET sector confidence in the ability of the regulator to make appropriate, consistent and proportionate regulatory decisions.

Expanding information entered on the publicly available national register and enabling ASQA to share information electronically with others responsible for administering laws relating to VET will assist students to make informed enrolment decisions and provide employers with better information about training quality. Further technical amendments in the bill support ASQA to be a more responsive, efficient regulator and facilitate improved engagement with the sector.

ASQA will have powers to use enforceable undertakings to take action against an RTO where it deems an undertaking is more effective. This aligns it with similar powers of other regulatory regimes. Additionally, ASQA will have powers to stay the legal effect of regulatory decisions if an RTO seeks an internal review. This provides flexibility to support training delivery so that students' studies are not interrupted during a review.

The bill will also enable a simpler and faster-acting appointment process for ASQA commissioners. The minister will have the ability to appoint a commissioner to act as deputy chief commissioner during a vacancy or whilst the deputy commissioner is absent from duty. This is not currently available under the act. As a result, the deputy or acting deputy chief commissioner will automatically act as the chief commissioner where there is a vacancy in the position of chief commissioner. Further, the minister may appoint an acting commissioner, ensuring ASQA can continue to operate effectively and with a quorum.

The Morrison government is committed to ensuring the continuous improvement of Australia's skills and training sector, and a strong, responsive, transparent VET regulator is essential to our commitment. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.