Wednesday, 12th July, 2000


KOSKY SHOULD APOLOGISE - FREEZE CONFIRMED A DISASTER - BAILLIEU

The Bracks Government's 12 month freeze on private providers of training had
frozen out new and potentially excellent providers seeking to enter the market
and had significant negative impacts on the individual business plans of private
RTOs, a report has found.

Shadow Tertiary Education and Training Minister Ted Baillieu said today a
government-funded report on the State's apprenticeship and training system
slammed Minister Lynne Kosky's freeze on private providers of training, ordered
last year.

"The Bracks Government and in particular the Minister for Post Compulsory
Education and Training, Ms Kosky, must now apologise to those Registered
Training Organisations (RTOs) whose businesses were disrupted, and in many cases
have been devastated, by this arbitrary and unprecedented freeze," Mr Baillieu
said.

"Minister Kosky should especially apologise to all those prospective students
whose plans for a new start were thrown into chaos by the freeze. This freeze
was announced late last year without warning or notice at the very time students
and RTOs were finalising their planning for the year ahead."

Mr Baillieu said the Schofield report on the State's apprenticeship and training
program accepted that Victoria had been on track in training young people for a
successful working life.

Mr Baillieu said that in regard to the freeze the report specifically noted the
following negative impacts (report Vol 1 p30):

· It has frozen out new and potentially excellent providers seeking to enter the
market
· It has had significant negative impacts on the individual business plans of
private RTOs
· It has limited choice for those employers dissatisfied with TAFE Institute
provision
· It has limited the capacity of private providers to respond to local industry
expansion

"The Minister has sought from the start of this disastrous move to deny the
impact on students and RTOs. Now, even her own consultant has abandoned her.

She should immediately move to repair the damage. An apology would be a start.
She must lift the freeze forthwith and then begin redressing the financial and
confidence impact on private RTOs.

"For months the Opposition has been highlighting the stupidity of the Minister's
freeze - which achieved nothing and actually works against the report's own
recommendations.