Zaneta Mascarenhas MP
Federation Chamber, Parliament House, Canberra
Bills
It is an amazing pleasure to speak on the importance of this bill before the House, the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment (Strengthening Quality and Integrity in Vocational Education and Training No. 1) Bill 2024. A good education is a ticket to a good life and a good wage. My electorate knows how passionate I am about education. One of the things I'd also highlight is that I agree with some but not all of the comments of the member for Nicholls. Having a look at our society and seeing the importance of university education and vocational education, I think it's important that we place an emphasis on both of these types of education. Particularly in WA there can be comparable wages and comparable job security, and I think that something we need to highlight is the importance of apprenticeships and traineeships in our broader economy.
In the electorate of Swan I'm very lucky because there are a range of registered training providers that provide excellent services. I have two thriving TAFEs. South Metropolitan TAFE has two campuses, Bentley and Carlisle, and they provide amazing opportunities for our community, for young people and adults looking to start or change their careers.
Bentley campus, on Hayman Road, is one of the largest TAFE campuses. It's conveniently located across the road from Curtin University and co-located with the Bentley business precinct, known as Tech Park. It has brilliant facilities that are open to the public, such as the award-winning Bentley Pines Training Restaurant—I'm very lucky my niece has trained to become a pastry chef there! It's a live and interactive training environment for our students preparing for work in the hospitality industry. Hospitality and cookery students serve and prepare food in the restaurant and showcase their skills in planning a menu; budgeting and making purchases; and preparing and serving food and drinks to members of the public. Events students provide menu presentations and advertise when special events or exhibitions are staged in the venue. There are a wide variety of specialist facilities and courses on offer at Bentley TAFE. It's such an awesome facility that on more than one occasion I've had the opportunity to share it firsthand with the Prime Minister and the Minister for Skills and Training. On the most recent occasion, we announced the milestone in fee-free TAFE places that this government has achieved. It's a centrepiece of the Albanese cost-of-living package, helping the community address the skills shortage.
Also in my electorate is the Carlisle campus of South Metropolitan TAFE. It features a range of trades, paraprofessionals and course facilities. It's a purpose-built facility for refrigeration training and automotive refinishing, and it's the only one in Western Australia. Carlisle is also the location for the Adult Migrant English Program—as you can tell, I'm super proud of my electorate and the amazing facilities it has.
Before I get into the important changes this bill makes, I want to take this opportunity to address some of the incorrect assertions made by the member for Farrer in relation to this bill. There was an assertion about the number of apprentices rising under the Liberal government. It's simply not true. The member might like to know that, under the coalition government, the apprentice commencement rates declined. The facts are that there were 220,000 apprenticeships in 2014. By 2019, that number declined by 95,000 places, to 135,000. That's almost a 40 per cent decrease in apprenticeship opportunities under the coalition's watch. That's 95,000 fewer trained workers than we would have had if it weren't for coalition policy. It was only a COVID funding boost that arrested this slide. The member for Farrer once again started throwing accusations before checking the facts, because it was Labor that, after the election, made it a priority to invest in apprenticeships and traineeships, to invest in the areas where the economy needs skills the most. It also means that more money is going into apprenticeships.
Another fact the member for Farrer might like to know is that trade commencements went up by almost 20 per cent in Labor's first year of government—that's very impressive—and the almost 70,000 apprenticeships rose to 84,000 in 2023. That's 14,000 newly trained workers playing valuable roles in our jobs market thanks to Labor.
With a blossoming VET sector thanks to the Albanese government, it's important that we're ensuring integrity of the system. Integrity is vital to our training and education system. That's why this legislation is before us, because when our education sector is strong our economy can be strong. Our government is responsive to the needs of the sector that is serving us so well.
It's also responding to the quality issues that have come to our attention via important reports and reviews that were acted upon by Labor. It was the work of the 2023 Nixon review into the exploitation of the visa system and of the Braithwaite review which highlighted these issues. The joint standing committee report into international education shone a light on these matters that simply need to be addressed when it comes to maintaining quality and integrity while ensuring growth in the sector. The changes put forward by this bill will mean action can be taken against registered training organisations, RTOs, who are not genuine in their purpose. Fraudulent activity will be stamped out. As the Minister for Skills and Training put it: 'What we are simply doing is we're making it tougher for the bottom-feeders, the fraudsters and the cheats who take advantage of students for a quick buck. We're restoring integrity to the sector.' Most importantly, students will benefit.
Exploiting students is a low act. Students are simply aspiring to a better future, with hope and dreams. It is sad that this was fostered under the coalition government. I'm delighted about these key amendments in this bill which will help stamp out behaviour such as exploiting and luring students with false descriptions of training facilities and false testimonials. Tougher penalties will deter those operators who currently see penalties as a risk worth taking or a cost of doing business. Penalties will need to be tougher, and under this bill they will be. Fraud will be stopped, and the whole community will benefit. The message is clear: step up or step out.
The bill will stamp out fraud by empowering the Australian Skills Quality Authority, known as ASQA, to act when it identifies organisations that are not adhering to the requirements set by legislation. Last year the government invested $37.8 million to support the establishment of an integrity unit within ASQA. The funding was also used to upgrade ASQA's digital and data systems. A tip-off line has been established to detect and address unacceptable and dodgy RTO conduct. The bill will strengthen ASQA further. It will empower ASQA to take swift action to deter, and remove, these RTOs and apply greater scrutiny to the RTOs seeking to enter the VET sector. The bill also expands the kinds of false and misleading conduct that ASQA can target. It does this by providing for long-overdue increases to the penalties applicable to dodgy conduct and statutory breaches.
We must remember that this bill supports the majority of providers who are doing the right thing and providing quality education and training. There are genuine providers who are in the sector for genuine reasons and are providing outstanding, quality training for our future workforce. This bill will only benefit them. We are enhancing the quality of the service that they provide by stamping out rogue operators who risk bringing parts of the sector into disrepute. The removal of dodgy providers will make a big difference in securing the future of VET.
The bill will also force an RTO's registration to automatically lapse where an RTO has not delivered training and/or assessment for 12 months and prevent RTOs from expanding their course offering if they've been operating for less than two years. The bill will provide ASQA with greater discretion in prioritising, considering and deciding on RTO applications and empower the minister, with the agreement of state and territory ministers, to determine that ASQA need not, and must not, accept or process new RTO applications. It will expand offence and civil penalty provisions to cover a broader range of false and misleading representations by RTOs about their operations and increase fivefold the maximum penalties for breaches of relevant offences or civil penalties under the act.
These changes build on the Albanese government's investment in integrity and quality in the VET sector. We must respond and act. I know that the genuine RTOs in my community will applaud these changes. They're doing an outstanding job, and I'm excited about the new and flourishing service providers that we're working with in different communities to tailor training to specific needs. They need our support to ensure that we're equipped with the correct regulatory framework to protect their integrity and to make sure that we get great outcomes not just for students but also for our economy. I commend the bill to the House.
