Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton has said that vocational education and training (VET) students now have a complaints hotline to bring rogue training providers to the attention of regulators.
“Our Government is taking firm action to crack down on unscrupulous and misleading behaviour by some training providers and brokers, and this one-stop-shop hotline will help stop the exploitation of students,”
The joint initiative with state and territory governments not only helps apprentices and students to lodge complaints but it also serves employers concerned about any aspect of the training system.
“We need to do all that is possible to ensure that our training system is of the highest quality so that students and potential employers can enjoy confidence in our training system,” Mr Coulton said.
“Anyone in the Parkes Electorate with a complaint or query about the training sector now has one number to call.
“To date students have not had a clear way to get the attention of regulators when they have had a training provider do the wrong thing by them, said Mr Coulton said.
“This was brought to my attention last year by training operators in the Electorate and also by residents, particularly from Coonamble, where that had been incidents of training providers providing cash incentives to entice students to sign up,” said Mr Coulton.
The National Training Complaints Hotline is part of the Government’s reforms to cut red tape and better serve the needs of students, employers and training providers.
“This Hotline is good news for students. It’s good news for all the RTOs who are doing the right thing and contributing to a better VET system and the future of Australians and Australian businesses.
“The hotline also allows us to analyse complaint trends which is vital for ongoing improvements to the training system,” Mr Coulton said.
The National Training Complaints Hotline is accessible on 13 38 73 (Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm nationally) or via email at skilling@education.gov.au.