Edition 69, July 2009

COAG agrees to VET reform

At its July meeting in Darwin, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a workplan for further reforms to the vocational education and training system.

The workplan will address a number of major reform areas including:

  • developing models for a national regulatory body for vocational education and training
  • ensuring the Australian Apprenticeship system is responsive to the needs of individuals and enterprises, especially during the downturn and into recovery
  • increasing the level of investment in nationally-accredited training
  • providing timely, relevant and easy to navigate information to individuals and enterprises
  • ensuring the training system, and the products of the training system, are responsive to the needs of individuals, businesses and industry.

COAG also continued discussion of matters surrounding apprenticeships and Australian Apprentices Taskforce established at the April meeting. It was agreed that when contracting for government stimulus and infrastructure projects, the States and Territories will aim to secure at least 10 per cent of the total contract labour hours to be undertaken by apprentices and trainees and those seeking to up-skill, where this does not result in unreasonable costs to business.

COAG also agreed that all States and Territories will establish an out-of-trade register, and provide targeted job matching and mentoring services for apprentices and trainees. COAG requested that the Taskforce report back on implementation and further urgent actions to support apprentices during the downturn at its next meeting.

For more information on the COAG decisions visit www.coag.gov.au/coag_meeting_outcomes/2009-07-02/index.cfm#apprentice

This page was generated on 29 September, 2009

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