Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Bills

Education Legislation Amendment (Adult and Community Education and Other Matters) Bill 2022

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Mr LEANE:

That the bill be now read a second time.

Dr BACH (Eastern Metropolitan) (17:36): It is good to rise to make what you will find will be quite a brief contribution on this bill. There was a lengthy debate in the other place on this bill, which makes a series of really very minor and administrative changes to a number of pieces of legislation. The overall intent is to improve student wellbeing.

It is interesting, I must say, to be debating legislation that relates to the adult and community education sector given the government’s dreadful cuts to neighbourhood houses. This has been broached in other places, and I do not need necessarily to recapitulate all of those points today. My colleague David Hodgett, the Shadow Minister for Education, made a very fulsome speech, and I would refer interested members of the Council to that speech, with which I concur fully. But it is interesting, given that the overall purpose of this bill is to improve student wellbeing, to note the fact that there is another bill sitting at number 8 on our notice paper, orders of the day, the Children, Youth and Families Amendment (Child Protection) Bill 2021 which, if debated—well, it has been debated—or if discussed in committee and then passed, as it would be, would do far more than this bill to improve the wellbeing of young people.

I was very interested in the comments of the Attorney-General earlier today. She has done a significant U-turn. I was sitting in this place some months ago now when Dr Ratnam asked the Attorney-General a question about raising the age of criminal responsibility. The Attorney-General was very definitive in her opposition to raising the age of criminal responsibility at that time—fine, a reasonable position on a very complex issue. However, today under questioning from Ms Patten, the Attorney-General said she was open to conversation. Now we all know the reason that the Children, Youth and Families Amendment (Child Protection) Bill has not come back to this place after 300 days—300 days—languishing on the notice paper, despite bipartisan support. It is a really good bill. I made it absolutely plain in my initial speech that every single member of the Liberals and the Nationals would vote in favour of this bill. I would say, through you, Acting President, to the minister at the table: ‘You’ve got the numbers. It’s a really good bill’.

I have regular discussions with the CEO of the peak body, Deb Tsorbaris; with people like Paul McDonald, the CEO of Anglicare; Michael Perusco, the CEO of Berry Street; and Aunty Muriel Bamblett. They are desperate for this bill to come back. In fact what the Attorney-General said today is that she is open to conversation now about measures like raising the age of criminal responsibility. The government will not debate the bill that is number 8 on our notice paper thus far, because Dr Ratnam has attached an amendment to raise the age of criminal responsibility. But now the Attorney-General says she is open to that conversation. She said so today. She also said that the chief reason that this bill, which Dr Ratnam questioned her about today, has not come back before the house is that there is not time. So at this point I will save the house 27 minutes by saying that members of the opposition—the Liberals and The Nationals—will not oppose the Education Legislation Amendment (Adult and Community Education and Other Matters) Bill 2022. Let us have the debate. I wish the bill a speedy passage, and let us get to the far more important bill, the Children, Youth and Families Amendment (Child Protection) Bill.

Mr MELHEM (Western Metropolitan) (17:39): I was lost for a moment about where Dr Bach was coming from. In the Education Legislation Amendment (Adult and Community Education and Other Matters) Bill 2022 we are talking primarily about adult education and community—

Mr Finn interjected.

Mr MELHEM: Mr Finn, I am not sure, but you might benefit out of this legislation. Maybe we can provide you with some adult education in relation to this bill. I want to congratulate Minister Tierney, who is in the house today, for bringing this bill to the house. I have been involved in this sector for the last 2½ years. We have some 270 adult, community and further education (ACFE) neighbourhood houses and community organisations that provide training and support for adults or older people in our community. When I say older people, it is anyone over the age of 18. They are delivering soft skills, like computer skills, digital skills, literacy and numeracy skills—you name it. I had the privilege as the Parliamentary Secretary for Training and Skills to actually be given responsibility to look after the sector, and I have had the chance to visit most of these centres over the last 2½ years. There are about 30 000 people going through that sector, and about 2.5 million hours of training is delivered in the sector. In fact last week on Thursday and Friday the sector got together. They had the adult and community education conference just across the road from here, reviewing the way ahead and making sure we can continue to deliver a first-class service.

This bill is about making some changes because the principal act, the Education and Training Reform Act, was put in place in 2006, so it has been a long, long time. Part of the review that was commissioned by Minister Tierney was to basically find ways that we can improve the delivery of education for the most vulnerable people in our community. As a result of that, one of the recommendations was that a bill make amendments to the act to make sure there is an executive director appointed by the government to basically provide support to the Adult, Community and Further Education Board, which is chaired by Maria Peters. She is doing a magnificent job in delivering the services to our community. This bill will establish that and also continue to provide additional staff and resourcing. Now, the ACFE board manages around $50 million of investment by the state of Victoria. Mind you, we are the only state in the country that actually has a system like that. None of the other states have any adult education; we are the only state that does that. I think that is very important.

I am going to be brief, but I just want to pay tribute to the people in the sector—both paid staff and volunteers—for the great work they have performed in the last 2½ years during COVID. One of the biggest challenges was the ability to switch between face-to-face training and online training. Everyone thought they were not going to be able to manage that process and get through that. But, guess what, in a matter of a few weeks they managed to do that switch, and they have they have done a magnificent job on our behalf to continue providing that service. I have even met some 90-year-olds doing some training just to learn how to communicate with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren—how to use Facebook. Some people are doing cooking lessons, for example, just to improve their skills. Another cohort will be looking at how to improve their digital skills or literacy and numeracy skills so they can do further education or perhaps apply for a job. The sector provides a first-class service to the most vulnerable people in our society, and as I said, on average somewhere around 30 000 people go through that system. The benefit is so great, and I think it is worth the investment.

The bill also modernises some other areas in relation to clarifying the powers of the ACFE board and makes some further administrative changes—for example, regarding the Victorian student number, the VSN, and related information. There are various other minor modifications, administrative ones. I will not go through them, but most importantly this bill mainly focuses on the ACFE board and the ACFE sector, which I think is long overdue. We are providing some additional resources to make sure that we are delivering on the ministerial statement that Minister Tierney launched some three years ago. That was a five-year plan, and that is one of the areas we have reviewed this week. It goes a long way to achieving that. Whilst the bill, as I said, is straightforward, it does clarify a lot of areas and makes sure we are strengthening the adult, community and further education sector to continue to deliver an excellent service to our community. With that, I commend the bill to the house.

Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:45): I am pleased to rise this afternoon to make a brief contribution on the Education Legislation Amendment (Adult and Community Education and Other Matters) Bill 2022. Before I unpack some of the elements of this bill, I think that as a whole we should always aim to be lifelong learners and take up opportunities to continue to learn and study, whether it is something of interest for our own entertainment and rounding out our enjoyment in life or whether it is part of a larger goal to expand our understanding and skill base in order to get the next job that we want or to elevate and increase our understanding of our current job. I think lifelong learning is a fantastic thing; the time we stop learning is certainly not useful. To wit, there are many different ways to learn, whether it is through adult education, whether it is through the TAFE sector or whether it is through registered training organisations (RTOs), and sitting behind them there must be the checkers, the compliance, the standards and all of the regulations that form that framework.

The bill amends the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 to modernise the Adult, Community and Further Education, ACFE, Board; to reflect that AMES Australia is the only remaining adult learning institution; to provide—and I will say this just the once—the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, the VRQA, with greater discretion to look at audits of registered training organisations; to modernise the framework in terms of student numbers; and to make other amendments.

It also looks at the Child Wellbeing and Safety (Child Safe Standards Compliance and Enforcement) Amendment Act 2021. This is something that I have had experience of in the last few years—probably about four years—from listening to the community and listening to parents at various schools. I make the point that if a government is going to introduce policies in relation to child safe standards, if there is going to be a set of standards, a set of requirements for schools, school communities and teachers to adhere to, the bar needs to be set high, and then there must be checkers. If there are concerns—if parents have concerns, the community has concerns, the school community has concerns—there must be those who are prepared to fearlessly assess them, because at the end of the day child safe standards are designed to do exactly that: keep children safe.

I think there are about seven standards, and I feel in speaking with my constituents that there have been occasions where these standards have not been up to standard in school networks. If that is the case, then the back-end work needs to come in. The Department of Education and Training and the Commission for Children and Young People need to come in and be fearless in that. That does not mean any targeted work or biased work, but they need to protect children and thoroughly make those assessments and audits in a way that will see improvements in the system. This is about, at the end of the day, a school—whether it be a secondary school, a specialist school, a disability school, a tertiary school or a registered training organisation—and young people and children. We need to ensure that our child safe standards are adhered to. I make that point. This comes from speaking with constituents and working with constituents who feel that the system is letting them down.

In terms of registered training organisations, they do play a very important role in delivering nationally accredited courses. We see a number of them in our electorates. It is the accredited courses that enable adults to either complete their secondary education or begin or change their direction in terms of career. We were very fortunate the other day to have two outstanding candidates in our Nationals preselection for the seat of Euroa. A councillor in that area applied, and she spoke about the fact that she left school at a very young age, at 15. When she realised that that was too early to exit the education pathway, she came back, and by the time she was 25 not only had she completed her Victorian certificate of education but she had gone on to higher education and was a highly qualified lady. I think an incredible accolade and respect are due to her for doing that.

The other thing that we know in terms of Eastern Victoria Region and in particular in the Latrobe Valley is that the dynamics of work and employment need to change and to be responsive to industries closing. We know that Yallourn power station will be closing in 2028, and I have had lots of conversations with EnergyAustralia in relation to this. They are very mindful about the need to change and to transition those workers who want to change and who are young enough and want to certainly stay in the area and support their families and have a really valued and worthwhile career. There will be that need to upskill, to pivot, but the learning institutions—the TAFE sector, Federation University and potentially RTOs without a doubt—will be able to facilitate that change and that learning.

There was a recent study—requested funnily enough by the Latrobe Valley Authority (LVA)—completed by Federation University. I have great appreciation for that uni; it is our only uni, and it has a very important and pivotal role in the valley. But one of their findings in terms of participation in labour markets is that somehow in that region we collectively as a society are failing those young men, and there has been a decline in labour force participation of young men in their 20s and early 30s. So we really need to investigate why that is. It is good to have identified that, but we then need to ask why this is happening, what needs to change and how our learning institutions can be very much mindful of that and be pivotal in that to support them, to remove those people from outside of the workforce and to really engage them, make some aspirational changes and get that focus.

The other interesting thing—if I can say this slightly tongue in cheek—is that the LVA created the impetus for this Federation University investigation. It completed the investigation, and one of the recommendations was to have a parallel body just like the LVA to continue its work. So I feel like there may not have been a degree of separation there when the sponsoring entity was also in the recommendations to continue on. Notwithstanding that, certainly Federation University did an important investigation. Funnily enough, all of the comments that I had made in a minority report to do with that region and the closure of Yallourn and Hazelwood power stations were reflected very similarly—the work and unemployment levels were mirrored—in the Federation University report.

Digressing only slightly, the other thing is that the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, the VRQA, certainly does play an important role in terms of school registration, making sure that schools meet a certain standard and other requirements.

I have told this story before, but when I returned to teaching in my late 30s I paid $66 after having not taught for 10 years and I could walk back into the classroom. I hope that has changed now, because it is astounding, isn’t it, that having not taught for 10 years I could go back into the classroom. Now, I worked very hard and was as diligent as I could be, but I think there need to be greater levels of standards. I was quite prepared to do extra training or a year’s course so that I could re-skill, but they let me back in straightaway. It was called learning on the run.

In relation to a constituent that I have worked very closely with, she raises a concern that whilst the VRQA is meant to be the regulatory body that oversees compliance within schools, there seems to be this lack of separation, and I will explain this comment. The department secretary, Jenny Atta, sits on the board of the VRQA. Now, some will say, ‘Well, okay, that’s so she can have oversight’, but when you are on a regulatory body—sitting on the board of the VRQA—and also in the Department of Education and Training, whether there is or not, there seems to be a conflict of interest. How can the VRQA investigate the education department if the secretary is sitting in two camps? This family and the people who I have worked with are from Voices for Special Needs in the valley. My constituent has told me in the past—and I share it with the house—that the Commission for Children and Young People have been trying to find a representative from the VRQA to meet with concerned parents, but this request has been unsuccessful to date. The minister is at the table, so in all genuine sincerity, it might be an opportunity to separate this impasse so that they actually can meet. Their last comment was, ‘We haven’t managed to find anyone who is willing to meet with you’. So the concerned parents have had to abandon this plan and go back to seeking a meeting with the Ombudsman.

The last time this parent attended her child’s former school she completed a questionnaire which was facilitated by the VRQA. She and another concerned parent documented that they would like to be contacted regarding a sincere concern, and this was never actioned. Both parents wrote at the time through that questionnaire that they would be happy—they would like, they were asking, they were seeking—to have that contact, but there has been no feedback or follow-up. If we are going to have a level of investigation, a level of compliance or interaction or parent consultation, and if you put something in a survey, then what is it for if nothing is followed up from those comments? These are quite serious concerns, and I have raised them in the past here. Why do we have this layer of regulation if parents still feel entirely frustrated that their concerns are not followed up?

This bill The Nationals and Liberals are not opposing. It is largely a perfunctory bill that tidies up some various elements and acts. What our lead speaker, Dr Bach, certainly spoke about was the importance of our neighbourhood houses and how we on this side certainly recognise the various services they provide. Sometimes they are also RTOs and provide that learning opportunity in a variety of modes. I started my contribution talking about lifelong learners, and we value our neighbourhood learning centres, which they are sometimes called. In Traralgon there is one that is called that. So with that, I wish neighbourhood houses all the best. I know we have made commitments, if we are elected—when we are elected—on 26 November, about continuity of programs through extra funding or continued funding for those services and programs. We wish them well, and we wish them good teaching and good compliance.

Ms TIERNEY (Western Victoria—Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Agriculture) (18:00): I thank everyone for their contributions this evening, albeit there was a lot of transgression, I have got to say, in terms of the contributions. But, leaving that aside, I take that as a compliment because we covered off on so many issues that people had as a result of the bill before us this evening. It has been great to see strong support for the bill from all quarters.

In 2019, I released a statement called The Future of Adult Community Education in Victoria 2020–25. This statement outlines an ambitious reform agenda for adult community education. An emphasis was placed that the Adult, Community and Further Education (ACFE) board was expected to lead the implementation and achieve the government’s aspirations and goals for community education in this state.

In 2020 an independent review of the operation of the ACFE board focused on the governance arrangements that underpin ACFE, including the roles and responsibilities of the ACFE board and the Department of Education and Training. As part of its recommendations, this review found that outdated provisions in the ACFE board’s governing legislation are significant barriers to effective governance as well as to the achievement of the aspirations and goals expressed in my ministerial statement. The bill therefore implements recommendations of the ACFE board review by removing barriers to effective governance. Passage of these amendments in the bill will lead to improved access to and quality of post-secondary education and training for Victorian adult learners.

One member in the other place spoke about changes that the bill makes in relation to advice the ACFE board receives from regional councils. The same member also asked about the skill set requirements for a person to be appointed to the ACFE board. In response I can confirm that there will be no material changes to the current role of regional councils, and the bill continues to ensure that the ACFE board consults regional councils. As the ACFE board is strategic in nature, it is important that the ACFE board members possess governance rather than management expertise. Management expertise is commonly understood as decision-making with regard to the operation of an organisation—reports on which would be made to the board of directors. This is not relevant when determining membership of the ACFE board. Governance experience is a far more important consideration so that the ACFE board can include members who have had significant experience in overseeing board responsibilities that are both statutory and strategic in nature.

I also can confirm that the Victorian student number data is held by the Victorian student register and is maintained by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in a secure environment. Access to VSN data is and will continue to be strictly limited to those persons who are authorised by the secretary for certain and limited authorised purposes. The secretary will make guidelines in relation to a range of matters, including who the secretary will consider to be appropriate to be an authorised user and how authorised users should access, use and disclose the VSN in any way that maintains and protects students’ privacy. All authorised users are bound by robust privacy laws to maintain and protect the privacy of individuals whose information is included in the VSN and VSR.

In summary, the bill contains amendments which make important improvements to various aspects of the government’s education and training system, established under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, including: improving the governance arrangements of the ACFE board; removing adult education institutions as a category of providers of adult community and further education; elevating the status of AMES Australia as the primary provider of these services and recognising the significant and unique work that AMES Australia undertakes in the settlement services and adult community education sector for culturally and linguistically diverse Victorian community members; and modernising the provisions around the access, use and disclosure of the VSN. It also clarifies a number of regulatory powers and functions of the Victorian Regulations and Qualifications Authority in relation to registered training organisations and other entities required to comply with child safe standards. It also makes technical and consequential amendments which ensure that a person, body or school registered in respect of a foundation secondary course or foundation secondary qualification is subject to the reportable conduct scheme and the child safe standards.

In relation to a matter that Ms Bath has just raised that I have not heard of before, that is a local constituency issue. I am not aware of that. It would have probably gone to the Minister for Education at the time; I am the Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education and Minister for Agriculture. I am not aware of that, but I would suggest that Ms Bath submit that request to Minister Hutchins, the new Minister for Education, so that she can have a look at what her constituents are seeking.

On that note I thank again the contributors tonight and also all the contributors that we saw in the other house and in particular those that have not necessarily spoken in this debate today but have spent a lot of time via emails and on the phone with my office wanting clarification and getting answers to a number of concerns or issues that have been raised by some of their constituents. I thank them for their interest, and indeed I hope that we do have a very speedy passage of this bill this evening.

Motion agreed to.

Read second time.

Third reading

Ms TIERNEY (Western Victoria—Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Agriculture) (18:06): I move, by leave:

That the bill be now read a third time.

Motion agreed to.

Read third time.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Mr Gepp): Pursuant to standing order 14.27, the bill will be returned to the Assembly with a message informing them that the Council have agreed to the bill without amendment.