The Australian Refrigeration Council (ARC) has welcomed plans to strengthen the powers of the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) to crack down on dodgy training organisations.
A new bill to be introduced into federal parliament today responds to integrity and quality issues in the VET sector.
The National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment (Strengthening Quality and Integrity in Vocational Education and Training No. 1) Bill 2024 is designed to tackle non-genuine providers and improve the integrity of the nation’s vocational education and training (VET) sector.
It provides for a five-fold increase in maximum penalties for breaches, intended to deter RTOs that currently see penalties as a risk worth taking or a ‘cost of doing business’.
ARC chief executive officer, Glenn Evans, welcome the planned legislation which would, if passed, boost ASQA’s powers to take decisive action against RTOs that circumvent regulatory requirements.
‘The permit scheme is competency based and reliant on qualifications, so training quality is critical.
‘ARC and ASQA have long been allies in the battle to shut down these courses which are a blight on our industry, and we hope this legislation is passed as it would strengthen our hand considerably,’ he said.
‘If this becomes law, it will support ARC’s work to eliminate dodgy RTOs that issue spurious qualifications typically based on inadequate courses and inappropriate reliance on tick-and-flick recognition of prior learning (RPL) processes.
‘This Bill, if passed, will support the majority of providers who are doing the right thing, while further strengthening our arm in keeping the dodgy courses shut down.’

This article was provided courtesy of Greg Shoemark from Australian Refrigeration Council.