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Key Points
- Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor has announced a crackdown on “dodgy” training providers.
- A new confidential tip-off line will allow current and former students, staff and employers of international students to report fraud.
- The announcement is in response to recommendations made by reviews of the migration system and exploitation of Australia’s visa system.
The unit will work with law enforcement agencies to conduct “intense” compliance checks on high-risk providers in a bid to improve protections for all students.
A new tip-off line and expanded powers for ASQA
People will be able to anonymously report misconduct by training organisations by phone or through the regulator’s website.
Though ASQA already has powers to deal with some matters, the government will ensure the regulator can suspend, expel or deregister a provider, O’Connor told ABC Radio National.
The vocational training measures announced today are “aimed at stopping domestic and international students and graduates from being exploited by unscrupulous operators,” says Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor (left). Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
“It will also send a message to others contemplating acting in the same way,” he said.
When asked at the National Press Club about how many “dodgy operators” he expected would get shut down, he said, “I would say probably more than a dozen, but under a hundred”.
Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor discussed the measures during an address at the National Press Club on Tuesday. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Ministers pledge to restore integrity, crack down on ‘shonks’
The measures announced today were an “important next step in strengthening the integrity of our tertiary education sector,” he said.
Australia’s skills ministers will meet next month, where they will consider further changes to strengthen Registered Training Organisation legislation.
Peak body says satisfaction with independent providers is high
While integrity enhancements are welcome, the government shouldn’t make it harder for students to use private sector training, the peak body representing independent providers says.
“As the Australian government approaches the issue, it also needs to be cognisant that when it comes to delivering quality outcomes, ITECA members achieve the best results.”
