VET & TAFE
campusreview. com. au
Recent Senate paper builds up reader expectations of a robust effort to reform VET – but the Coalition’ s minority report shoots down those hopes.
By John Mitchell
What a letdown
A familiar experience: you start reading a new government report on the VET sector and get excited by its revelations about corruption. But, ultimately, the report loses its coherence and the inadequate analysis and odd-ball recommendations leave you disappointed.
Many readers got that experience from four previous national VET reports – on deceptive marketing practices by training providers, dodgy online learning in the construction industry and poor training in aged care and childcare. Now that same familiar feeling is awaiting readers of the recently released Senate report Getting Our Money’ s Worth: the operation, regulation and funding of private vocational and training( VET) providers in Australia.
While the Senate report has some merit, don’ t get too excited: not much will change in VET in the coming months as a result of this inquiry. This is made clear in the penultimate section of the report,“ Coalition Senators’ Minority Report” which undermines the previous portions by taking cheap shots at the Labor Party for flawed approaches to VET from 2008 – 2012. Point scoring, the Coalition senators write:
“ Government senators are concerned that the Committee Report fails to acknowledge Labor’ s poor design of the VET FEE- HELP program, first introduced in 2008 then expanded in 2012, and hold Labor to account.”
The Coalition’ s minority report also regurgitates points made – in self-congratulatory media releases from the office of then-assistant education and training minister Simon Birmingham – that the changes to legislation he championed this year will solve most of VET’ s problems around the blow-out in funding for VET FEE-HELP students and simultaneously curb the rogue practices of third-party brokers and profiteering providers.
Despite the Coalition senators’ comments, evidence cited in other sections of the new report show that the previous minister’ s initiatives were too few and too slow. Overall, the report proves that the national debt for VET FEE-HELP is ballooning, unwitting students are still being exploited and corrupt provider practices are rampant. All this despite bold media releases from Birmingham’ s office.
OTHER ZANY CONTRIBUTIONS The Coalition senators’ minority report is not the only nutty contribution to the paper, as two other political parties also provide some odd suggestions. For instance, the final section
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