According to Master Builders Australia, employers in the building and construction industry stand to gain from the substantial package of proposed reforms recently announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
“These reforms provide a unique opportunity to free up the training bottleneck that leaves millions of Australians without any post-school education while industry struggles to fill skilled positions,” said Master Builders CEO Wilhelm Harnisch. “The proposed availability of HECS-style loans for larger numbers of diploma students is particularly welcome.”
Harnisch believes the announcement that offers an entitlement to a publicly funded Certificate III place, is a step in the right direction, but an effective entitlement system should extend at least to Certificate IV level and take account of the fact that many people require more than one qualification during their career.
Master Builders also welcomes the renewed commitment to an industry-led training system for Australia, and to increased transparency measures such as the MySkills website and the Unique Student Identifier.
“Other proposed measures, such as assessment validation, require close consultation with industry to ensure they deliver meaningful outcomes without adding further to training red tape,” said Mr Harnisch.
