Page 3560 - Week 11 - Thursday, 23 October 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Under this bill, the ACT Accreditation and Registration Council will be abolished. One would assume this is part of the red-tape reduction the bill’s explanatory statement refers to. As advised earlier, the opposition will be supporting this bill.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.53): The ACT Greens will be supporting this bill before the Assembly today. As Mr Doszpot has noted, the training and tertiary education industry, including vocational education and training, the VET sector, is undergoing a range of quite significant changes at the moment, with more no doubt to come. It is therefore essential that the ACT is keeping pace with developments in the commonwealth arena, and I understand that this bill is just one part of this bigger picture.
The bill before us seeks to align ACT legislation with relevant changes to commonwealth legislation to avoid duplication and clarify oversight processes to the sector, which I am sure will be welcome. But it is just as important that government, both federal and local, maintain an ongoing watch over the sector and the many existing registered training organisations, especially if we are to see, as many expect, new players enter the ACT market. Therefore, it is going to be increasingly important to facilitate the Education and Training Directorate’s implementation of ongoing reforms to ensure we maintain and enhance quality, efficiency, transparency, equity and access in the ACT VET sector, in line with similar reforms at the national level.
We have a strong and vibrant education sector in the territory, and we are all rightly proud of both our institutions’ and our students’ results. And we need to recognise the important economic and social benefits that the education sector brings to the city. I know we will have more bills and amendments in this place over the coming months regarding the changes touched on earlier. University funding, deregulation, uncapped fees—while these are all federal issues, they impact on our community and certainly warrant discussion in this place.
More directly related to the ACT and the bill before us, however, are the processes already in train to open up the VET sector to HECS-style loans for diploma level courses and increasing funding to support students to receive certificates III and IV level education. We need to ensure that CIT remains a foundation of the government’s commitment to the learning capital as these changes roll out and provide the appropriate guidance and oversight to all VET sector providers.
I appreciate the work the minister is putting into this transition, and the recognition of the need to step our way through this challenging environment with more care perhaps than some other jurisdictions that jumped in boots and all a few years ago and are now having to go back and fix some of the unforeseen problems.
I also support the Education and Training Directorate’s ongoing role relating to policy making for vocational education and training and streamlining of the Australian apprenticeship systems in the ACT. As the explanatory statement makes clear, with the repeal of the ACT Accreditation and Registration Council it is necessary and appropriate to give functions previously assigned to the council in relation to vocational education and training, and undertaken by the directorate on the council’s behalf, to the director-general, beyond what is offered by the national Australian Skills Quality Authority.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video