The national regulator is absolutely on a charm offensive at the moment. Over the last 3 weeks I have noticed a definite shift in the approach that the regulator is taking in the handling of and engagement with RTOs. All of a sudden, the regulator seems to be a little more conciliatory and eager to be fair. I realise that some will have different opinions, but I do think it is a shame that such damage needed to occur to the sector causing representatives of the government to push back in order to get this change of approach. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think we are completely out of the woods yet.

I was told this week through a contact that the ASQA legal section has been directed to conciliate and resolve every and all cases that are unlikely to be winnable during a formal AAT hearing. I’m not totally sure if that is motivated by budget or just trying to clear the decks and minimising further reputational damage. I suppose if you’re in a hole that you’re trying to get out of the last thing you want to do is keep digging the hole!

I did think it was interesting that the Acting Chief Commissioner released a fairly candid open letter to the sector on 14 October (click). Whilst the letter was clearly designed to draw a line under the past to enable the sector to move on, there were some parts of the letter that don’t quite fully recognise the current situation. As an example, Ms Rice noted her awareness of “perceptions” around consistency of the regulator’s decision-making process. Far out! So, the absolute inconsistency in almost every audit conducted by ASQA is only a “perceived” problem. How about we just fess up and recognise that it is a problem and that we need to try and fix it. I will be taking a very keen interest to see who they appoint into the permanent role and I am obviously hoping that it is someone with very strong VET credentials. I personally think that David Garner would be the best choice for the job.

Lastly, I would like to bring your attention to a petition which is available on the Parliament of Australia website at the moment and which closes on the 20th November 2019. This is an official petition that is calling for the House to direct the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training to initiate a formal Inquiry into ASQA’s regulatory strategies, policies and activities. Whilst many of you may have been fairly insulated from the very dark regulatory period that we have just come through, there are many businesses that have been totally wrecked, livelihoods destroyed, and communities disadvantaged from having access to quality training because of the regulatory approach by ASQA. I do think that this inquiry would be a very good thing for the sector. I do think that this inquiry is necessary to expose some of the very damaging practices that ASQA has carried on with in the last 3 to 5 years. I am particularly interested to see an enquiry into how ASQA has gamed its regulatory approach to harvest additional revenue from the sector by imposing unfair audit fees on providers where this was not necessary. This enquiry may be really the only opportunity to shed some light on this period before ASQA conveniently moves on to the next chapter like nothing happened. I would strongly recommend that you sign this petition and distribute this link widely to enable others to also have their voice.  You can access the petition at the following link: Click