Profiteering in colleges is ‘wrecking lives’, says senator

Australia’s vocational education system is being undermined by “profiteering and exploitation”, leading to narrow, task-based qualifications, a federal Labor senator has told a national conference.

Doug Cameron, shadow minister for skills, technical education and apprenticeships, said the “commercial ascendancy of for-profit training” had led to a proliferation of piecemeal, low-quality courses.

Speaking at a conference of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training in Canberra on 30 August, Cameron said this exploitation of the vocational education system was “wrecking lives” and failing to prepare young people for skilled work in a society increasingly dominated by technology.