Press Conference, Melbourne

ANDREW GILES, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: Good morning, everyone, and thanks for coming. I'm really pleased to be here with Saxon Rice, the CEO of ASQA, to talk about Real Skills Deserves Real Recognition, the next step in the Albanese Government's crackdown on dodgy and shonky operators in the vocational education and training sector.

Real skills do deserve real recognition. That's been a keystone of the Albanese Government's approach to regulating the vocational education and training sector from the very start because we know that Australians have a clear understanding of the importance of vocational education and training. Australians know that we have built, over hard work over generations a reputation for excellence so that when you hire an electrician to wire your house or when you entrust your children or older people whom you care deeply to a carer, you know the person doing that work has been trained to the highest standard and the community can have confidence in their work. Skills we can count on, it's absolutely fundamental. But we also know that the sector has been blighted by some unscrupulous operators, and that is why over the course of our time in Government, we've invested nearly $47 million in ASQA, and Saxon will tell you about this in a moment.

We've also put in place some new legislative changes to ensure that the integrity of our sector is absolutely fundamental as well as its quality. We've focused on quality of provision through things like the changes to RTO Standards introduced last year, really important work led by ASQA. But we've had a continuous focus on dealing with some of these unscrupulous operators because we are deeply concerned about their behaviours and the wider consequences. We have seen a number of providers cancelled for simply not meeting the expectations of the Australian community and thousands of qualifications cancelled that were not properly delivered and should never have been granted. Dealing with these issues is absolutely fundamental. It's fundamental to the vast majority of operators in the sector who do a fantastic job training Australians. It's fundamental to students and prospective students. It's fundamental to the Australian community who expects that high quality and highest level of integrity in vocational education and training.

Today, though, we recognise that there is always more to be done. The Australian community demands that we continue to do more, and Real Skills Real Recognition is about doing just that. And importantly, it's about engaging directly with students and prospective students, meeting people where they are so people can make good decisions so that they can identify some of those dodgy operators, those shonks, seeking to exploit them and exploit the community. This is one more step in our ongoing efforts to ensure that every Australian can have confidence in vocational education and training in this country.

Now, I'm really pleased that Saxon Rice, the CEO of ASQA, is leading this work. Her work to date has seen fantastic results, seen the quality of the services upheld and the integrity likewise. I know that she is committed to carrying on this work, and this next step in our ongoing crackdown on shonks is incredibly important. So, for all those providers out there who think they might be able to make a buck by exploiting Australians, you will be found out and you will be shut down. That is the message that I want to deliver today, as well as saying with the broader Australian community, we will work day and night to ensure that vocational education and training is something that every Australian can rely on.

Now, in handing over to Saxon, can I say this, in the history of ASQA, this is the first press conference the CEO of ASQA has actually appeared at. So, this is a historic day for the regulator as well as another step in our ongoing crackdown on those who seek to undermine the integrity of Australia's world-leading vocational education and training system.

SAXON RICE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AUSTRALIAN SKILLS QUALITY AUTHORITY: Thanks very much, Minister. And as the national VET regulator, I'm really pleased to support this initiative because when recognition of skills is undertaken properly, it is empowering, it supports our economy and it supports communities, because skills means jobs. But when it's not, it can have devastating outcomes for individuals, community confidence and safety. ASQA has stepped up to the challenge posed by unscrupulous providers, their agents, and their brokers because they have no place in our sector. We have worked hard to be a smarter regulator. We have sharper intelligence, stronger data, increased powers, and we're throwing everything we have at these scams that threaten the integrity of the skills training system.

Now, one of the tools that we have at our disposal, our VET Tip-Off Line, is running hot. Since it was established in 2023, we have received more than 8,000 tip-offs, and more than half of these have delivered actionable intelligence. Now, this intelligence and other sources have really helped us to act quickly to remove 13 unscrupulous providers from the sector by cancelling their registration and cancelling more than 43,000 qualifications or statements of attainment that they have issued. We are acting to protect vulnerable Australians because some of these fraudulent qualifications were issued in early childhood, aged care, disability, and the building and construction industries.

But we're not stopping there. Since 1 July 2024, ASQA has also issued more than half a million dollars in infringements for breaches of misleading advertising practices. And as at 31 March, our Integrity Unit has more than 232 serious matters under investigation involving more than 155 providers. We are working closely with federal, state, and territory governments and regulatory partners, including law enforcement. Every serious matter under investigation is linked to multi-jurisdictional action or impact [indistinct] with licensing bodies or disruption activities related to criminal networks. And that is why the information being shared today is so important.

Recognition of prior learning or RPL is a legitimate and valuable part of our VET system, enabling so many people to turn their previous formal or informal qualification learning into a qualification, but it must be done properly every time. ASQA has a sustained regulatory focus on RPL. We know profiteers are deliberately seeking to exploit students and undermine the sector through fraudulent and dangerous RPL practices. These providers don't just harm students by promising them a qualification in exchange for thousands of dollars. They are harming the sector and potentially putting some of our most vulnerable members of the community at risk. So to the people these profiteers are targeting, be vigilant. It is still the case that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So don't risk it, and don't pay for a fraudulent qualification because real skills deserve real recognition.

GILES: Thanks very much, Saxon. Are there any questions?

JOURNALIST: What are some of the key signs people should look out for if they go to apply for something or purchase something to know it's dodgy or real?

GILES: Thanks, Georgie. I'll make a couple of comments and I'll hand over to Saxon to expand. As she says, if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly will be too good to be true. What we have seen is some very consistent representations made on social media, guaranteed qualifications, and timelines that are unrealistic in terms of the nature of the qualification, days rather than months. Things like that are telltale signs of a qualification that has not been properly delivered.

RICE: That's right, Minister. In these, the promotion outlines some of the key things to be looking out for, things like no classes to attend, no study or exams required, and if we're looking at channels through which individuals are being asked to provide documentation with little to no engagement with the provider or the broker, they are telltale signs of non-genuine activity.

JOURNALIST: Minister, can you give us top key sectors which are facing major shortages, and what is being done to address that?

GILES: Are you talking about skills shortages, or issues that we’ve talked about today?

JOURNALIST: Yes, skills shortages.

GILES: Across the Australian economy, there are very significant skill shortages. I think I’ve made the point fairly regularly that when the Albanese Government was elected, we faced the most significant skills crisis in 50 years, and the second worst across all advanced economies. Jobs and Skills Australia data shows that we are making significant progress [indistinct] you’re seeing a number of occupations in shortage coming down. But it is the case that we do need more construction workers in particular, we need more workers in clean energy, we need more workers in the care sector, both health and in terms of individual support roles, whether it’s in aged care, early childhood, and we need more workers in technology as well. So they are some of the areas, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that these are all areas which were a focus of our Free TAFE agenda on the one hand, and our Key Apprenticeship Program on the other.

JOURNALIST: Can I just ask on the fire that we've seen at the oil refinery this morning? What do you make of those images? And obviously they're still working out exactly how it started, but it's potentially impacting production of petrol in that area.

GILES: Yeah, look, the images are really confronting, the scale of the flames. And my first thoughts, and I'm sure the first thoughts of every Australian are for the people who work at that centre, and indeed for the people who live in the community surrounding Corio and the north side of Geelong. Obviously, Fire Rescue Victoria are on the site and are focusing as they should do on making sure that the fire is put out and that people are kept safe and work can resume safely. My colleague, Minister Bowen, I know has addressed the media earlier today, and he's made clear that he has been in regular contact with the CEO of the company. I think every Australian is also obviously concerned about the ongoing impacts, but I think our first focus has to be making sure that the fire is dealt with so that work can safely resume as soon as possible.

JOURNALIST: Have you had any conversations with people there in Geelong this morning about how people on the ground are going?

GILES: I've been watching the news, it's only the morning. I did speak very briefly with the Victorian Energy Minister, who I know is deeply concerned about this. But I haven't had the opportunity to speak directly to anyone in the Geelong community as yet.

JOURNALIST: So just back onto the skills shortages that you were speaking about just before, in terms of how we fix some of these issues, what do you then make of One Nation and the Liberals' migration plan in terms of blocking potentially some people that might be coming into the country that are skilled workers?

GILES: Look, I think you've been very generous in describing the Liberals' announcement the other day, the speech, as a plan. I'm not sure there's many of the elements of a policy or a plan that have been set out. What we've seen instead of a serious policy is really a series of allegations, and I think that's been borne out over the last couple of days where the relevant Shadow Minister and the Leader have been unable to answer the most basic questions about the implications of the statements that the Leader of the Opposition made.

What we need now is not attempts to divide Australians, but a focus on pulling the community together. And we also do need a focus on ensuring that Australia can have the skills we need to keep our economy ticking over, to see the houses that we need built, to ensure that Australians can be cared for in their earliest years and their later years, and in all of these areas. This is a really serious challenge that our Government has been focused on since day one. There isn't one answer to it. Obviously, skilling Australians is fundamental. The focus on Free TAFE, which we've now seen over 725,000 enrolments in, the Key Apprenticeship Program which I touched on before, doing all of these things and making sure that our migration program is delivering the skills that we want, that are needed in the short term as well.

Minister Burke made this point really well yesterday – we've delivered three times as many construction visas, for example, as before. So many of the doctors and the nurses who care for Australians were qualified overseas and are making huge impact on Australian communities. These are really important things we should treat with the seriousness they deserve, not through the lens of short-term politics by a leader who is obsessed with and spooked by One Nation.

JOURNALIST: Can you also tell us what is being done by your Government on building AI skills across all sectors, not only tech?

GILES: That's a really good question. I'm very pleased you asked it, because on Tuesday I joined with my New South Wales colleague, Minister Steve Whan, at New South Wales TAFE Meadowbank to announce a Centre of Excellence in digital and artificial intelligence skills – another step in making sure that we don't just have the skills of today when it comes to technology, but we build a skills system that can move as quickly as technology is moving, which is something that we're all seeing with the advent of AI.

And you also make a really important point – I think it's absolutely vital when we talk about skill sets that relate to artificial intelligence, we don't see it through a narrow lens of the tech workforce, because AI is changing just about every job. Around 85 per cent of office workers are routinely using AI. Often that is through shadow usage – that means use that they are doing off their own bat rather than something that is part of their formal training or responsibilities. Understanding that and ensuring people can safely and effectively use AI in those settings is fundamental to meeting our productivity challenge.

So too is it that we need to ensure that workers in every field can take advantage of the opportunities of AI. Just last week I was with an operator of a small housing construction business who was telling me how useful AI had been for him as a sole operator at managing the back end of his operation so that he can focus on doing the things that he's interested in and qualified for. So it is about making sure that microcredentials and skill sets, not just big chunky qualifications, can be made available to more Australians. That's what the announcement on Tuesday was all about – free-to-user, bite-sized skills to make sure that Australians in every field can keep up with technology and not be at risk from it.

JOURNALIST: Particularly here in Victoria, some skills shortages, we do have a shortage of people in the healthcare sector and education. How are we going to fix those issues when we are seeing nurses and doctors in some of our large hospitals quite overrun because of the scale of work they need to complete and the lack of people to complete it?

GILES: This has been a really long-running challenge, and obviously Minister Butler as the Health Minister has been working with the Education Minister when it comes to expanding the training opportunities for doctors in Australia, and also making sure that more doctors end up practicing in the areas where they are desperately needed, particularly in general practice where there's been a long-run movement away from.

When it comes to nursing, this has been a real focus of my work. Enrolled nursing is on the Free TAFE list in most jurisdictions including Victoria, and we've seen an enormous uptake in that. Paid Prac has made a real difference too, because the need often to move away from home to give up part time work has been another barrier for people being able to pursue that career as a nurse. This is an occupation that we really do need to keep our focus on. For us as a government, and I know for the Victorian Government too, building our health workforce has been an absolutely fundamental priority, particularly post-COVID where there have been some [indistinct] challenges.

ENDS