AEU welcomes Albanese Government crackdown on dodgy private providers

The Australian Education Union (AEU) welcomes the Albanese Government’s introduction of legislation today to deal with unscrupulous VET providers, address deceptive conduct and restore integrity and confidence in Australia’s Vocational Education sector.

“These measures are long overdue and we commend the Minister For Skills and Training, Hon Brendan O’Connor, for acting on issues which everyone knows have plagued the VET sector for a very long time.” Correna Haythorpe, AEU Federal President said.

Under the Coalition Government, the private for-profit mantra dominated policy debate and funding settings to the detriment of the system, students and the community. The measures in the proposed new Bill will allow the national regulator to effectively manage risk and threats to the VET sector to ensure all registrations meet the high standards for registered training organisations (RTOs) and that students have access to high quality provision of vocational education.

It is TAFE’s public institutions which continue to uphold high standards and access to high quality teaching programs for their students and we recognise that the Albanese Government is meeting their commitment to centre TAFE at the heart of Vocational Education in Australia with additional funding, progressive policy and these proposed changes to legislation.

We particularly welcome measures that will ensure that those RTOs who have failed to provide training and assessment in a 12-month period will have their registration lapse unless there is a genuine reason, and those RTOs who choose to deceive the public will be hit with financial penalties five times that in the current legislation.

“As the Minister said today, for too long the system has been plagued with bottom-feeders, fraudsters and cheats. That stops now and we urge all political parties to support this legislation” Correna Haythorpe, Federal President said.

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