An email to Polytechnic staff has revealed that the recent move to handover state jurisdiction of VET to the Commonwealth will result in less industry courses being offered – in an attempt to keep registration renewal and annual fees down.
The Liberals warned Nick McKim last November of the potentially disastrous implications on Tasmanian vocational and educational providers (state and private) of moving to a new, untested and expensive national regulatory scheme.
Those concerns were due to RTOs telling us they expected the new scheme to result in an increase in registration and audit fees of up to 2000 per cent, causing some training providers to reduce the scope of their training provision or close their doors entirely.
The Minister said in his second reading speech on the Vocational Education and Training (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2011:
While there will be fee increases associated with the regulation of training organisations and courses, I would anticipate that most providers will absorb this cost or minimally increase their prices. There is absolutely no case for providers to use fee increases to implement significant price increases.
The latest email to Polytechnic staff contradicts the Minister’s uninformed reassurance and highlights why the Liberals raised these concerns. The Polytechnic email states:
‘ASQA are introducing registration renewal and annual fees, these fees will be based on the number of items on an RTOs scope of registration. In an effort to keep fees to a minimum the Polytechnic will need to ensure it only has items on scope that it is or intends to deliver and items no longer required are removed from scope as soon as practicable.’
By failing to consult directly with RTOs, failing to take seriously the concerns we raised on their behalf and ramming through the referral of powers legislation in November, Mr McKim has once again failed in his duty as Minister for Education and Skills.
