VET News

Strengthening the Integrity of Registered Training Organisations

The Albanese Government is strengthening rules to ensure that people who own, operate and manage Registered Training Organisations meet higher and broader ‘fit and proper persons’ standards, an initiative designed to eliminate the minority of non-genuine operators that profit from students and fail to provide the standards of education and training that students deserve.

These changes, agreed to by State and Territory Skills Ministers today in Perth, will provide VET regulators with stronger powers to scrutinise people managing, overseeing and controlling Registered Training Organisations (RTOs).

The changes allow the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) more scope to keep substandard, unethical, dishonest or non-compliant practices out of the VET sector.  Owners and senior managers at RTOs are required to comply with the ‘Fit and Proper Person’ Requirements as a condition of registration.

There will be an expanded list of matters that will be considered when determining if a person is fit and proper, including a broad power for ASQA to consider conduct that suggests a deliberate pattern of unethical behaviour.

Other expanded powers include:

• allowing ASQA to consider instances where an offence was proven but no conviction was recorded;
• allowing ASQA to consider a persons management history and past breaches of registration;
• expanding the types of evidence which can be considered that show false and misleading conduct by providers; and
• allowing ASQA to consider whether the provider has been found not to be fit and proper under an expanded range of federal and state laws, not merely in the VET sector. 

Access the full Ministers' Media Release here.

Date posted Aug 31, 2023