Ministerial Statement

VET Quality Audit Blitz

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (14:00): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.I. BOYER: The Malinauskas Labor government is unequivocal on the need to support skills and training and the benefits it delivers for individuals, communities and our economy. We are focused on ensuring that South Australians have access to quality training and that our training system is geared to respond to meet current and future skills needs. South Australia's vocational education and training system must always be of the highest integrity.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption's recent report, 'Received or deceived?Managing and monitoring the conduct of government contractors', contained some concerning findings. The report was publicly released in June this year.

The ICAC investigation found that a registered training organisation had historically been involved in subsidy manipulation through false reporting. The provider has not been named by the ICAC. While there was no finding that any public officers were involved in the subsidy manipulation, the report did find room for improvement in how the department ascertains whether subsidies are payable. I note that the department had already acted to improve processes and therefore ICAC did not provide any recommendations.

As the Minister for Training and Skills, I have zero tolerance for the misuse of any training subsidies. In light of this report, I want to make sure that every funded training provider in South Australia is doing the right thing. I have asked my department to instigate a quality audit blitz on all funded RTOs to provide increased assurance to South Australians. This includes TAFE and non-TAFE providers. We have increased the number of compliance officers to undertake this intensive program, which will commence in October 2022.

We will be working with all 158 providers to seek evidence-based assurances of the integrity of their training subsidy claims. This is a timely course of action. All South Australians must have confidence in our vocational training system. Our state must always have a training system of the highest quality or there will be serious consequences for our economy, individuals and the broader community. This quality blitz will provide that insurance.

We will not hesitate to act if any providers are found to be inappropriately claiming training subsidies. Every cent of funding for training is taxpayers' money and we have no tolerance for its misuse. This blitz will strengthen confidence in the quality and integrity of our training system.