Training organisations operating for less than two years old will not be able to expand courses under new laws established to weed out rogue operators in the vocational education and training sector.
The new legislation provides the Australian Skills and Quality Authority (ASQA) with stronger tools to act against registered training organisations (RTOs) doing the wrong thing.
An RTO’s registration will now automatically lapse if the provider has not delivered training and/or assessment for 12 months and RTOs will not be able to expand their course offering if they have been operating for less than two years.
The new laws provide ASQA with greater discretion in prioritising, considering and deciding RTO applications and empower the Minister, with the agreement of State and Territory Skills Ministers, to require ASQA to pause the acceptance and processing of new RTO applications.
They also expand offence and civil penalty provisions to cover a broader range of false or misleading representations by RTOs about their operations and increase five-fold maximum penalties for engaging in egregious conduct that breaches relevant offences or civil penalties under the Act.
Federal Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor said the tougher penalties would deter dodgy providers who currently saw fines as a risk worth taking or “merely a cost of doing business”.
These new measures build on previous moves to strengthen quality in the VET sector including establishment of an integrity unit within ASQA, upgrading ASQA’s digital and data systems and creating a tip-off line to report egregious RTO conduct.
