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CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer and Copyright Details
Australian National Training Authority
Amendment Bill 1998
Date Introduced: 24 June 1998
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Employment, Education, Training and Youth
Affairs
Commencement: Royal Assent, except for the
provision that ANTA is not liable to pay State taxes which is to
apply retrospectively from 21 December 1992
The purpose of
this Bill is
- to amend the Australian National Training Authority Act
1992 in order to
- reflect the terms of the revised ANTA Agreement, and
- provide that the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA)
is not liable for State and Territory taxes; and
- to amend the Vocational Education and Training Funding Act
1992 to provide Commonwealth funds to ANTA for allocation to
States and Territories in 1998 and 1999.
The Australian National Training Authority
(ANTA) was made possible by an agreement between Commonwealth,
State and Territory heads of government announced on 21 July 1992.
The ANTA Agreement(1) was a compact shaped, on the one hand, by an
offer made in 1991 by the Commonwealth government to assume full
financial responsibility for vocational education and training,
and, on the other hand, by the determination of the States and
Territories to preserve their control of the system, despite their
inability to fund it adequately because of budgetary
constraints.(2)
Prior to the 1990s, the Commonwealth played a
limited role in technical and further education in Australia. In
1973 the Commonwealth Government established the Australian
Committee on Technical and Further Education, chaired by Myer
Kangan,(3) which led to the creation on 1 July 1975 of the first
Commonwealth Technical and Further Education Commission. As a
result, a funding partnership developed between Commonwealth, State
and subsequently Territory governments. In the 1980s, Commonwealth
grants to the States for TAFE were provided for both capital and
recurrent purposes, although recurrent funding remained principally
a State responsibility.
Surveys of Australia's vocational education and
training (VET) system which were carried out in the 1980s, revealed
that Australia compared poorly with other OECD countries.(4) They
showed that the system was largely confined to apprenticeships in
traditional trades with some full-time courses in business studies.
The system was ill-equipped to respond to the needs of industry and
the demands of the modern workplace which required the broadening
and deepening of skills, and broader personal and social competence
to deal with changes in work organisation, workplace relations and
technology. The Commonwealth government was concerned at the large
gap between the skills available in the labour market, and those
needed to drive the economy, especially in a newly deregulated
economy exposed to international competition.
In partnership with the States and Territories,
the Commonwealth's aims were:
- to encourage expansion and participation in vocational
education and training
- to improve the relevance of TAFE and the use of Commonwealth
funds to meet the Commonwealth's objectives
- to improve productivity and efficiency
- to increase industry involvement and the diversity and
flexibility of the sector, and
- to enhance the employment prospects of the unemployed, the
young and disadvantaged groups.
A reform agenda was developed within a
co-operative framework, and was informed by a number of government
commissioned reports.(5) It was in this context that the
Commonwealth offered in 1991 to take over the funding of the TAFE
system. However, reluctance by the States to lose responsibility
for the vocational education and training sector, which they
regarded as integral to their economic interests, led in July 1992
to a compromise agreement on a national co-operative system for
training management.
The ANTA Agreement
The Agreement was given effect by the
Australian National Training Authority Act 1992 and
subsequent supporting State and Territory legislation. The Act
established the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) to be
responsible for the joint resources of the Commonwealth, State and
Territory governments in the VET sector. States continue to manage
vocational education and training but within a national framework
determined by the Ministerial Council (MINCO) which directs the
system. MINCO consists of one Minister from each State, Territory
and the Commonwealth. In deciding matters where a vote is
necessary, each State and Territory has one vote and the
Commonwealth has two votes and a casting vote. The functions of
ANTA include allocating and remitting funding to State and
Territory training agencies on the basis of guidelines determined
by the Ministerial Council, and administering any programs agreed
by the Ministerial Council as requiring national delivery, within
the guidelines approved by the Ministerial Council.
Under the terms of the initial Agreement which
came into force on 1 January 1994, the Commonwealth agreed to
provide growth funds, provided that the States and Territories
maintained their own levels of funding. Eighty per cent of growth
funds were to be distributed on the basis of population and 20% on
performance 'against agreed objectives and other relevant
factors'.(6)
From 1 January 1995, the funding arrangements
under the States Grants (TAFE Assistance) Act 1989 were
replaced by funding arrangements under the Vocational Education
and Training Funding Act 1992. Under these arrangements, a
single pool of funds comprising the previously separate recurrent
expenditure grants and capital expenditure grants is passed to the
Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) for allocation among
the States and Territories. Funding decisions are made consistent
with a national strategic plan for vocational education and
training based on agreed national objectives and priorities.
Commonwealth funds make up approximately 30% of monies spent on the
vocational education and training system in Australia.
Since coming to power, the Coalition Government
has continued to work within the ANTA framework. Some areas of
priority to the Government are:
- ensuring that business, including small and medium enterprises,
is given a leadership role in the VET system and that there is
broader business participation on the ANTA Board
- giving schools an increased role in vocational education as
providers of accredited training, particularly for students seeking
to begin apprenticeships and traineeships while they are at school,
and
- funding off-the-job training for new apprenticeships, allowing
employers and their trainees to choose the provider to deliver
their training. Under the new 'user choice' arrangements, public
funding will be allocated to the training provider selected by the
client (in this case, the employer acting together with their
apprentice or trainee). Clients will be able to select any
registered provider, either a TAFE institute or a private provider,
and negotiate aspects of the content, mode of delivery, location
and timing of training, within a framework of endorsed competency
standards and costs established by government.
Reviews of the ANTA Agreement
The operation of the first ANTA Agreement has
been reviewed both by the Senate Employment, Education and Training
References Committee (Report of the inquiry into the Australian
National Training Authority, November 1995) and by a special
committee chaired by Mr Rae Taylor AO (Review of the ANTA
Agreement, February 1996). Both reviews have
supported the general direction of the reforms. They have been
critical of the slow pace of change resulting largely from the need
to integrate, through agreement, eight State and Territory systems,
and of the overly bureaucratic and complex training structures
which seem to have little relevance to the needs of industry.
Many achievements have been acknowledged
including a significant increase in the number of students gaining
access to vocational education and training; the development of
competency based standards and training in a number of industries;
the availability of accredited training in new areas; national
curriculum development; improvements in links between schools, TAFE
and industry; the training wage; and innovative partnerships
between schools, industries and training institutes.
Issues identified as potentially the focus of
further policy development include increasing industry involvement;
increasing competition in the training market; the effectiveness of
competency based approaches to learning; the development of
assessment and quality control procedures; the performance of TAFE;
and improving links between the education sectors. In particular,
the Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee
recommended that:
- the ANTA Agreement specify what is meant by the term
'industry', and make more explicit the Agreement's expectations of
industry with respect to its responsibilities for shaping, and
contribution to the maintenance of, the national training effort
(Recommendation 10)(7)
- ANTA adopt a triennial approach to the development of State
Training Profiles and to the funding of the VET sector
(Recommendation 13)(8)
- an independent education and training specialist be appointed
to the Board of ANTA (Recommendation 19)(9)
- membership of the ANTA Board be extended to seven, comprising
three members from industry, one from the small business sector,
one from the trade union movement, one education and training
specialist and one member with a rural/regional background
(Recommendation 20).(10)
In 1997 the Government issued its response to
the Senate's inquiry into the Australian National Training
Authority. The Government indicated that it would be seeking to
address a number of the Committee's recommendations, together with
the recommendations of the Review of the ANTA Agreement,
in its negotiations with the States and Territories for a new ANTA
Agreement in 1997. In particular the Government said that 'it is
envisaged that, under a revised ANTA Agreement, there will be
streamlined planning and improved accountability arrangements to
replace the current State Training Profiles'.(11)
The revised ANTA Agreement
Negotiations for the revised ANTA Agreement took
place in 1997. The Commonwealth offered to enter a new agreement on
the basis of a funding guarantee for five years at the level of
1998 funding, while the States would be expected to provide
additional student places through efficiencies. The States and
Territories did not accept the Commonwealth's offer of a five-year
agreement on the terms proposed.
In April 1998 Commonwealth, State and Territory
vocational education and training Ministers reached consensus on a
revised three-year funding agreement. Under the revised ANTA
Agreement, the Commonwealth will maintain funding in real terms
($904.144 million in 1998) for the three years 1998 to 2000 and the
States and Territories have agreed to the principle of growth
through efficiencies. The revised Agreement also locks in a
reduction in annual funding announced in the 1997-98 Budget. From 1
January 1998 the Commonwealth has reduced annual funding to the
States and Territories to provide an incentive for them to achieve
efficiency gains through, for example, benchmarking their VET
activities against the most cost-effective States.(12) This
reduction is equivalent to $20 million in the 1998 calendar
year.
The text of the revised ANTA Agreement is in
Schedule 1 of this Bill. The purpose of the Agreement is to provide
the basis for a partnership between the Commonwealth, State and
Territory governments and industry to develop and refine a national
vocational education and training system (paragraph 2). The revised
Agreement stresses the leadership role of industry in decisions to
be made about the system (paragraph 2(i)). One key objective is to
increase the investment in training made by industry (paragraph
4(v)). The previous Agreement talked of a 'close interaction
between industry and vocational education and training providers'
to ensure a system which reflected industry's need and
priorities.
The revised Agreement also has the purpose of
enhancing national recognition of VET courses and awards (paragraph
2(ii)) and the objective of improving mobility in the labour market
(paragraph 4(ii)). Another purpose is to improve the efficiency of
the provision of vocational education and training. The previous
Agreement expressed a similar objective in terms of promoting 'an
efficient and productive network of publicly funded providers that
compete effectively in the training market'.
The Agreement sets out in detail the roles and
responsibilities of the Ministerial Council, ANTA, the State
Training Agencies, and the Commonwealth. Unlike the previous
Agreement, it does not detail industry's roles and responsibilities
in this section. Under the revised Agreement the Ministerial
Council continues to be the peak body in the system and retains its
role in relation to the allocation of Commonwealth funds.
The revised ANTA Agreement includes some new
planning and accountability arrangements. These are:
a medium term 'National Strategy' for vocational
education and training that will identify key performance measures
which are to be agreed (paragraph 19)
- an annual statement of agreed national priorities based on the
National Strategy (paragraph 21)
- State and Territory planning documents. Each State and
Territory is required to provide the Ministerial Council with an
annual VET Plan that will include its response to the national
priorities document and report on progress measured against the
National Strategy (paragraphs 23-26). Paragraph 32 provides that
States and Territories will not receive any Commonwealth funding,
except for national programs and projects, unless their annual VET
Plans for that year have been considered and agreed by the
Ministerial Council
- an annual national report which will be tabled in Parliament
(paragraphs 27 and 28).
The Commonwealth has agreed to maintain its
current level of funding in real terms for the life of the
Agreement, and the States and Territories have agreed to maintain
their level of activities (paragraph 29 and 30). In addition,
within guidelines to be agreed by the Ministerial Council, each
State and Territory will negotiate bilaterally with ANTA on the
development of mechanisms to identify efficiencies, measure
outcomes and plan for future growth requirements (paragraph
31).
Amendments to the Australian
National Training Authority Act 1992 (the Principal
Act)
Item 2 defines the Agreement as
the Australian National Training Authority Agreement, the text of
which is set out in Schedule 1 of this Bill.
The effect of items 6 and 7 is
to substitute a definition of 'national strategy' as used in the
Agreement for the previously preferred term 'national strategic
plan'.
Item 3 refers to the 'annual
VET plan'. This replaces the 'State training profile' as the
planning document required to be prepared by each State and
Territory for agreement by the Ministerial Council. Item
9 repeals the definition of a 'State training
profile'.
Item 16 repeals the subsections
of the Principal Act which deal with the allocation of funds under
the initial Agreement. This reflects the fact that under the
revised Agreement the Commonwealth will not be providing growth
funding. It substitutes a provision that States will not receive
funding for programs, other than national programs or projects,
unless their annual VET plans for that year have been approved by
the Ministerial Council.
Item 17 concerns the payment of
tax by ANTA. The original intention when ANTA was created was that
it would not be subject to State or Territory taxes but this has
not been the effect of the current provisions. Item
17 provides that State taxes will not be payable
retrospectively from 21 December 1992, the day on which the
Australian National Training Authority Act 1992 commenced
(subsection 2(2) refers).
The effect of item 19 is to
replace the initial ANTA Agreement with the revised Agreement in
Schedule 1 of the Principal Act.
Amendments to the Vocational
Education and Training Funding Act 1992
General funding to the Australian National
Training Authority for dispersal to States and Territories is
provided by the Vocational Education and Training Funding Act
1992 (the Principal Act). The amendments to this Act deal with
the Commonwealth's contribution to ANTA for 1998 and 1999.
The effect of item 1 is to
increase the amounts appropriated for 1998 and 1999 by:
- incorporating into the general allocation funding previously
allocated specifically to support off-the-job training for new
apprenticeships. This amount is $21 546 000 in each of 1998 and
1999, and
- increasing the total amount of funding from $890 545 000 to
$904 144 000 in line with normal price adjustments based on
Treasury indices.
Item 2 omits the special
appropriations for off-the-job training to reflect the fact that
these have been incorporated into the general funding.
- The Agreement was first known as the National Vocational
Education and Training System Agreement (NVETS) but soon came to be
known as the ANTA Agreement after the Australian National Training
Authority which it established.
- Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee,
Report of an inquiry into the Australian National Training
Authority, November 1995, 1.
- Kangan, Myer, Technical and further education in
Australia, Australian Council on Technical and Further
Education, April 1974, Govt. Printer, Canberra, 1975.
(Parliamentary paper no. 203 of 1974)
- For example, the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market
Programs (Kirby Report) commissioned in 1984, and Review of
TAFE Funding (Deveson Report) 1986.
- The National Training Reform Agenda (NTRA) is the term used to
describe a loose collection of policy initiatives agreed by
Commonwealth, State and Territory Government which commenced in the
late 1980s directed at improving the quality, flexibility and
responsiveness of the VET system to meet the needs of the modern
workplace. Some of the reports commissioned at this time include
The Training Cost Review (Deveson Committee) 1990, the
Finn Committee (1990), the Mayer Committee (1991) and the
Carmichael Report (1992)
- Section 33 of the Schedule to the Australian National
Training Authority Act 1992.
- Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee,
op cit, 34.
- Ibid., 44.
- Ibid., 61.
- Ibid., 61.
- Government Response, Senate Employment, Education and
Training References Committee Report of the Inquiry into the
Australian National Training Authority, Canberra, 1997, 2. The
Senate Committee recommendations that the Government said it would
be addressing in the context of the development of a revised ANTA
Agreement are numbers 1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14.
- Budget Measures 1997-98, (Budget Paper No. 2, 40). For
a critical discussion of VET funding see the Senate Employment,
Education and Training Legislation Committee, Consideration of
Legislation Referred to the Committee: Vocational Education
and Training Funding Amendment Bill 1997, September 1997.
Rosemary Bell
1 July 1998
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