January 2015

New standards to combat rogue training brokers and protect prospective students from unscrupulous marketing practices, come into force from today. Assistant Minister for Education and Training, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham said the Australian Government is taking decisive and coordinated action to stop the exploitation of students. “Stories abound of people being stopped on the street and offered incentives including cash payments to sign-up for a course they don’t need,” Senator Birmingham said. “Often prospective students aren’t given the full story and sign-up to student loans worth thousands of dollars that need to be repaid later.” “The Government is taking firm action to crack down on unscrupulous and misleading behaviour by some training providers and brokers.” “Under the new standards, training providers and their brokers must be upfront with students and provide clear information about any VET-FEE HELP loans, state entitlements and subsidy arrangements that they sign up to.” “The standards also stipulate that training providers are ultimately responsible for services delivered by brokers on their behalf, ensuring that the buck stops with training providers.” “As the new minister I intend to do all possible to ensure training is of the highest quality so that students and potential employers can…