It seems the liberal parties idea to throw money at training institutions is a success .... for some.

The ABC has obtained evidence some colleges are recruiting people with intellectual disabilities to costly diploma-level courses funded with expensive VET-FEE-HELP training loans.

Single mother slugged $40,000 for hairdressing. She discovered the course she had actually signed up for was a theory-based salon management course, not hairdressing. It is a distinction easily lost on Ms Warfield because she has dyslexia

When Jacqui Whitehead's son was recruited to a business management course she became suspicious.

...

Her 24-year-old son Lukus has a diagnosed intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The Adelaide man completed year 10 with a special life skills qualification for people with a disability.

He was signed up for a diploma in business management by recruiters for Aspire College after being targeted outside Centrelink.


.



https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25290387/training-colleges-securing-thousands-in-government-funds-by-targeting-people-with-disabilities/

Surely "The Adults" in Canberra wouldn't set this sort of program in motion without doing all the checks and balances.

But then, it's all so much easier when you are in Opposition and only have 3-word slogans going for you.....

;)

It's the new industry, it's all we've got, ripping off the underprivileged and disadvantaged.

Scammers hitting on the intellectually disabled as they emerge from Centrelink.....getting them on the HECS debt merry-go-round.....sign up for your training now.....team Australia needs you on board.

Shame Australia shame!

John Smith wrote on Oct 18^th, 2014 at 4:55pm:

It seems the liberal parties idea to throw money at training institutions is a success .... for some. The ABC has obtained evidence some colleges are recruiting people with intellectual disabilities to costly diploma-level courses funded with expensive VET-FEE-HELP training loans. Single mother slugged $40,000 for hairdressing. She discovered the course she had actually signed up for was a theory-based salon management course, not hairdressing. It is a distinction easily lost on Ms Warfield because she has dyslexia When Jacqui Whitehead's son was recruited to a business management course she became suspicious. ... Her 24-year-old son Lukus has a diagnosed intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The Adelaide man completed year 10 with a special life skills qualification for people with a disability. He was signed up for a diploma in business management by recruiters for Aspire College after being targeted outside Centrelink. . https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25290387/training-colleges-securing-thousands-in-government-funds-by-targeting-people-with-disabilities/

you do realise these programs have been going on for years now, right?  ie, under LABOR???

they suck tho.

longweekend58 wrote on Oct 18^th, 2014 at 6:53pm:

John Smith wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 4:55pm: It seems the liberal parties idea to throw money at training institutions is a success .... for some. The ABC has obtained evidence some colleges are recruiting people with intellectual disabilities to costly diploma-level courses funded with expensive VET-FEE-HELP training loans. Single mother slugged $40,000 for hairdressing. She discovered the course she had actually signed up for was a theory-based salon management course, not hairdressing. It is a distinction easily lost on Ms Warfield because she has dyslexia When Jacqui Whitehead's son was recruited to a business management course she became suspicious. ... Her 24-year-old son Lukus has a diagnosed intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The Adelaide man completed year 10 with a special life skills qualification for people with a disability. He was signed up for a diploma in business management by recruiters for Aspire College after being targeted outside Centrelink. . https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25290387/training-colleges-securing-thousands-in-government-funds-by-targeting-people-with-disabilities/ you do realise these programs have been going on for years now, right?  ie, under LABOR??? they suck tho.

and people were installing pink batts for decades ... so?


these guys weren't scammed under labor, no matter how much you wish it so ...

longweekend58 wrote on Oct 18^th, 2014 at 6:53pm:

John Smith wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 4:55pm: It seems the liberal parties idea to throw money at training institutions is a success .... for some. The ABC has obtained evidence some colleges are recruiting people with intellectual disabilities to costly diploma-level courses funded with expensive VET-FEE-HELP training loans. Single mother slugged $40,000 for hairdressing. She discovered the course she had actually signed up for was a theory-based salon management course, not hairdressing. It is a distinction easily lost on Ms Warfield because she has dyslexia When Jacqui Whitehead's son was recruited to a business management course she became suspicious. ... Her 24-year-old son Lukus has a diagnosed intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The Adelaide man completed year 10 with a special life skills qualification for people with a disability. He was signed up for a diploma in business management by recruiters for Aspire College after being targeted outside Centrelink. . https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25290387/training-colleges-securing-thousands-in-government-funds-by-targeting-people-with-disabilities/ you do realise these programs have been going on for years now, right?  ie, under LABOR??? they suck tho.

The Federal Government said it is aware of the unscrupulous behaviour and has revealed plans to arm regulators with new powers from next year.

Just how long have they known about it and why haven't they done something before now??

John Smith wrote on Oct 18^th, 2014 at 7:22pm:

longweekend58 wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 6:53pm: John Smith wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 4:55pm: It seems the liberal parties idea to throw money at training institutions is a success .... for some. The ABC has obtained evidence some colleges are recruiting people with intellectual disabilities to costly diploma-level courses funded with expensive VET-FEE-HELP training loans. Single mother slugged $40,000 for hairdressing. She discovered the course she had actually signed up for was a theory-based salon management course, not hairdressing. It is a distinction easily lost on Ms Warfield because she has dyslexia When Jacqui Whitehead's son was recruited to a business management course she became suspicious. ... Her 24-year-old son Lukus has a diagnosed intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The Adelaide man completed year 10 with a special life skills qualification for people with a disability. He was signed up for a diploma in business management by recruiters for Aspire College after being targeted outside Centrelink. . https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25290387/training-colleges-securing-thousands-in-government-funds-by-targeting-people-with-disabilities/ you do realise these programs have been going on for years now, right?  ie, under LABOR??? they suck tho. and people were installing pink batts for decades ... so? these guys weren't scammed under labor, no matter how much you wish it so ...

True, but it wasn't until a Labor government tried to control things that people died and houses burned down in numbers.

Armchair_Politician wrote on Oct 18^th, 2014 at 8:43pm:

John Smith wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 7:22pm: longweekend58 wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 6:53pm: John Smith wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 4:55pm: It seems the liberal parties idea to throw money at training institutions is a success .... for some. The ABC has obtained evidence some colleges are recruiting people with intellectual disabilities to costly diploma-level courses funded with expensive VET-FEE-HELP training loans. Single mother slugged $40,000 for hairdressing. She discovered the course she had actually signed up for was a theory-based salon management course, not hairdressing. It is a distinction easily lost on Ms Warfield because she has dyslexia When Jacqui Whitehead's son was recruited to a business management course she became suspicious. ... Her 24-year-old son Lukus has a diagnosed intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The Adelaide man completed year 10 with a special life skills qualification for people with a disability. He was signed up for a diploma in business management by recruiters for Aspire College after being targeted outside Centrelink. . https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25290387/training-colleges-securing-thousands-in-government-funds-by-targeting-people-with-disabilities/ you do realise these programs have been going on for years now, right?  ie, under LABOR??? they suck tho. and people were installing pink batts for decades ... so? these guys weren't scammed under labor, no matter how much you wish it so ... True, but it wasn't until a Labor government tried to control things that people died and houses burned down in numbers.

rubbish ... people died installing insulation before, you just couldn't use it politically ....

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that 61 per cent of dwellings, almost 3.2 million, had insulation in 2008, with 98 per cent of these having roof or ceiling insulation.

Officials in Garrett's department told a Senate committee hearing that the pre-program rate of installations was 65,000 to 70,000 a year, with 80 to 85 insulation-related fires a year. Roughly 30 per cent were linked to new installations, on industry estimates. The program insulated more than 1.1 million homes. If 94 fires have been linked to this, the implication is that the fire risk was roughly four times lower than before, even as the number of installations rose 15-fold.

As for the four deaths of installers, one of them through heat exhaustion and another using foil insulation that Garrett had barred from the program months earlier,


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/insulation-fire-risk-was-worse-before-rebate-20100303-pivv.html#ixzz3GUgVWttk

Oh garbage, Armpit! 1.2m houses were retrofitted with insulation in a short space of time—the normal pace would have taken 20 years minimum to do that number and deaths and fires would have been spread out more.

The number of fires and deaths per 1000 houses insulated was less under the HIP.

The witch hunt of an RC into the HIP could not find any govt negligence, did not find any thing in fact that the 8 previous enquiries had already found out.

Armchair_Politician wrote on Oct 18^th, 2014 at 8:43pm:

John Smith wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 7:22pm: longweekend58 wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 6:53pm: John Smith wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 4:55pm: It seems the liberal parties idea to throw money at training institutions is a success .... for some. The ABC has obtained evidence some colleges are recruiting people with intellectual disabilities to costly diploma-level courses funded with expensive VET-FEE-HELP training loans. Single mother slugged $40,000 for hairdressing. She discovered the course she had actually signed up for was a theory-based salon management course, not hairdressing. It is a distinction easily lost on Ms Warfield because she has dyslexia When Jacqui Whitehead's son was recruited to a business management course she became suspicious. ... Her 24-year-old son Lukus has a diagnosed intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The Adelaide man completed year 10 with a special life skills qualification for people with a disability. He was signed up for a diploma in business management by recruiters for Aspire College after being targeted outside Centrelink. . https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25290387/training-colleges-securing-thousands-in-government-funds-by-targeting-people-with-disabilities/ you do realise these programs have been going on for years now, right?  ie, under LABOR??? they suck tho. and people were installing pink batts for decades ... so? these guys weren't scammed under labor, no matter how much you wish it so ... True, but it wasn't until a Labor government tried to control things that people died and houses burned down in numbers.

And as you well know, that government only handled the funding, not the actual implementation.

I'm no more a fan of Labor than of the current Death of Australia - both the same to me and equally destructive and worthless - but fair is fair.

longweekend58 wrote on Oct 18^th, 2014 at 6:53pm:

John Smith wrote on Oct 18th, 2014 at 4:55pm: It seems the liberal parties idea to throw money at training institutions is a success .... for some. The ABC has obtained evidence some colleges are recruiting people with intellectual disabilities to costly diploma-level courses funded with expensive VET-FEE-HELP training loans. Single mother slugged $40,000 for hairdressing. She discovered the course she had actually signed up for was a theory-based salon management course, not hairdressing. It is a distinction easily lost on Ms Warfield because she has dyslexia When Jacqui Whitehead's son was recruited to a business management course she became suspicious. ... Her 24-year-old son Lukus has a diagnosed intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The Adelaide man completed year 10 with a special life skills qualification for people with a disability. He was signed up for a diploma in business management by recruiters for Aspire College after being targeted outside Centrelink. . https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25290387/training-colleges-securing-thousands-in-government-funds-by-targeting-people-with-disabilities/ you do realise these programs have been going on for years now, right?  ie, under LABOR??? they suck tho.

The framework was introduced by the Howard government when he abolished the CES. Labor didn't change much, if anything.

Unemployed people are seen as walking dollar signs for the unscrupulous, to be exploited, enrolled into sham courses, and then spat out again.

What is particularly heinous about this criminal misconduct is that an unemployed person is only allowed to do one set of courses. Once someone has attained a Certificate IV level course, no further government funding is available.

The rorting of education courses is just the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot more exploitation of the unemployed on the public purse that the general population don't yet know about.

Here's another.

Some private recruiters have set themselves up as education providers so they can also "train" unemployed people. They have jobs available - or so they say - but to get a look at those jobs, an unemployed person has to complete a vocational placement course with them. No prior learning for the same course is accepted. At $2000 a head with a couple of hundred people through the door per year, that's a really nice scam to be running. And they can dob in people to Centrelink if they don't complete the course.

Wow, the same topic with a heading now turned on its head the other way...

It seems the owner of this OP is naught more than the flip side of the coin for the other OP.

It is not charities ripping off these people (as per the other stupid OP) nor is it merely anything directly connected solely to Lib party policy.

It has obviously already been pointed out this crap was going on under Labor previously too.

It might be nice for people to actually have a care for those being ripped off rather than using base, moronic and/or ludicrous "catchy" headlines for nothing more than political feather ruffling.

The underlying issue here is the problematic nature of privatisation, both parties have happily stuck their thumbs into that pie so there is simply no moral high ground for either ideology to latch onto.

Phemanderac wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 8:03am:

Wow, the same topic with a heading now turned on its head the other way... It seems the owner of this OP is naught more than the flip side of the coin for the other OP. It is not charities ripping off these people (as per the other stupid OP) nor is it merely anything directly connected solely to Lib party policy. It has obviously already been pointed out this crap was going on under Labor previously too. It might be nice for people to actually have a care for those being ripped off rather than using base, moronic and/or ludicrous "catchy" headlines for nothing more than political feather ruffling. The underlying issue here is the problematic nature of privatisation, both parties have happily stuck their thumbs into that pie so there is simply no moral high ground for either ideology to latch onto.

Yes, neither major party has anything to be proud of here. The Howard government set up the current system. The Rudd, Gillard and Abbott governments kept it in place.

The biggest shame for all these governments is that they have formulated policy without speaking to unemployed people to find out what works and what doesn't, and where money is being wasted. How can they know what's going on if they only ever have one side of the story? There's a lot of money being wasted - but the government are not ever going to find out about it if they only talk to the ones benefiting from the waste.

The current government are proposing to cut Newstart for anyone over 30. They could save a similar amount of money by prohibiting recruitment agencies from running vocational courses, or by a similar tightening of the rules.

These are just a few examples of the flaws with the current job network system (a rather Orwellian name). Despite the system being in place for 17 years, it has not ever had a major review . A comprehensive review is overdue.

Lobo wrote on Oct 18^th, 2014 at 5:49pm:

Surely "The Adults" in Canberra wouldn't set this sort of program in motion without doing all the checks and balances. But then, it's all so much easier when you are in Opposition and only have 3-word slogans going for you..... ;)

Thats what deregulation of the education industry will do.
The Abbott government is completely ideologically driven.

Phemanderac wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 8:03am:

Wow, the same topic with a heading now turned on its head the other way... It seems the owner of this OP is naught more than the flip side of the coin for the other OP. It is not charities ripping off these people (as per the other stupid OP) nor is it merely anything directly connected solely to Lib party policy. It has obviously already been pointed out this crap was going on under Labor previously too. It might be nice for people to actually have a care for those being ripped off rather than using base, moronic and/or ludicrous "catchy" headlines for nothing more than political feather ruffling. The underlying issue here is the problematic nature of privatisation, both parties have happily stuck their thumbs into that pie so there is simply no moral high ground for either ideology to latch onto.

solely liberal policy? who made that claim?

Tell me, with 800 000 unemployed and only about 160 000 jobs available, and the libs work or study policy, what courses do you suggest the remaining 640 000 people do? You don't think it might encourage more ripp off training institutions like this one?

I have a tenant who is a single mother of 3, nice girl but not very bright  (she struggles to manage her dole let alone anything else) and yet she recently signed up to a $13 000 business managemennt course (under hecs) that she does online .... $13 000 ... she could do the same thing at TAFE for $958 (concession price). These rorts are a result of the libs expanding HECS from what was previously limited to university courses, to include tafe and private education facilities ... people are paying up to $10 000 to do bullsh1t courses like Diploma in cleaning etc ... the training institutions tell them they'll never have to pay it back since they are unlikely to make the level of salary required for repayments to kick in.

It's all one big SCAM to get access to tax dollars

John Smith wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 3:34pm:

solely liberal policy? who made that claim?

Errrrm you did with your irrelevant thread title....


John Smith wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 3:34pm:

Tell me, with 800 000 unemployed and only about 160 000 jobs available, and the libs work or study policy, what courses do you suggest the remaining 640 000 people do? You don't think it might encourage more ripp off training institutions like this one?

I don't presently have "suggestions" for that, but at least you are now talking about the meat of the problem. Now all you need is to come up with a relevant title...


John Smith wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 3:34pm:

I have a tenant who is a single mother of 3, nice girl but not very bright  (she struggles to manage her dole let alone anything else) and yet she recently signed up to a $13 000 business managemennt course (under hecs) that she does online .... $13 000 ... she could do the same thing at TAFE for $958 (concession price). These rorts are a result of the libs expanding HECS from what was previously limited to university courses, to include tafe and private education facilities ... people are paying up to $10 000 to do bullsh1t courses like Diploma in cleaning etc ... the training institutions tell them they'll never have to pay it back since they are unlikely to make the level of salary required for repayments to kick in. It's all one big SCAM to get access to tax dollars

Well yeah it certainly is a scam, that scam is called privatisation though.

I think there is a fair chance as well that the "scam" regarding training may be a state level one too....

Neither party Labor or Liberal state or federally have offered up anything responsible, manageable or practical in provision of education and/or employment...

Certainly, real issues, but as I said to another erstwhile poster on the board about his own misrepresentative titles, all you do is demean the validity of the serious topic that follows on from the bogus thread title.

No probs, but when you wanna get fair dinkum about the issues it will be evident, the politicised language of the thread title will no doubt disappear.

I don't really care personally, it is your credibility that your poor choice of words shoots in the foot.

Phemanderac wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 9:32am:

Errrrm you did with your irrelevant thread title

No, my title a reference to liberal policy ... or are PUP currently making the rules?


Phemanderac wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 9:32am:

I don't presently have "suggestions" for that, but at least you are now talking about the meat of the problem. Now all you need is to come up with a relevant title...

Had this discussion when the policy was first announced and in fact I predicted this exact outcome. Again, until someone else is making the policies, the title stands as is.


Phemanderac wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 9:32am:

Certainly, real issues, but as I said to another erstwhile poster on the board about his own misrepresentative titles, all you do is demean the validity of the serious topic that follows on from the bogus thread title.

no, this thread is about the liberals policies regarding training and private training institutions, and the govts efforts to throw away our money, if you want to start a thread about thread titles, you are welcome to do so.


Phemanderac wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 9:32am:

No probs, but when you wanna get fair dinkum about the issues it will be evident, the politicised language of the thread title will no doubt disappear

gee, imagine that ... people using political language on a political forum ... who'd a thought of it?


Phemanderac wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 9:32am:

it is your credibility that your poor choice of words shoots in the foot.

I have no problem with my credibility, if anyone else has a problem with it that's there problem, not mine.

John Smith wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 10:22am:

Phemanderac wrote on Oct 20th, 2014 at 9:32am: I don't presently have "suggestions" for that, but at least you are now talking about the meat of the problem. Now all you need is to come up with a relevant title... Had this discussion when the policy was first announced and in fact I predicted this exact outcome. Again, until someone else is making the policies, the title stands as is.

I also had a problem with the thread title, but for entirely different reasons.

The title makes no mention of the exploitation of the unemployed in relation to training courses. I was looking for the thread to add to it but found it to be difficult to find because its title was too vague.

Bam wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 10:41am:

Phemanderac wrote on Oct 20th, 2014 at 9:32am: I don't presently have "suggestions" for that, but at least you are now talking about the meat of the problem. Now all you need is to come up with a relevant title... Had this discussion when the policy was first announced and in fact I predicted this exact outcome. Again, until someone else is making the policies, the title stands as is.

I also had a problem with the thread title, but for entirely different reasons.

The title makes no mention of the exploitation of the unemployed in relation to training courses. I was looking for the thread to add to it but found it to be difficult to find because its title was too vague.
[/quote]

what do you suggest?

'Libs policies exploit the unemployed' ?

Training courses that are more or less mandatory for basic occupations should be free, govt. funded, whether through TAFE or private. I am thinking of the kind of things John mentioned, whether it's cleaning, fork lift operation whatever.
But it doesn't alter the  situation that there are not enough jobs to go round, at least at present and maybe for quite a while to come. Blame globalisation, move to service economy, technology etc for all of that, not necessarily politicians of either side.
(I taught in TAFE accounting for a while and I don't have a lot of respect for the organisation, but it's there and better than nothing.)

John Smith wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 10:43am:

Bam wrote on Oct 20th, 2014 at 10:41am: I also had a problem with the thread title, but for entirely different reasons. The title makes no mention of the exploitation of the unemployed in relation to training courses. I was looking for the thread to add to it but found it to be difficult to find because its title was too vague. what do you suggest? 'Libs policies exploit the unemployed' ?

Doesn't really fit the topic IMO. Various Lib policies exploit the unemployed (or can be argued as such) and this thread seems to deal with the specific exploitation surrounding training courses.

If it fits, I suggest: "Libs training policies exploit the unemployed" (if you want to highlight Liberal policies in this matter) or if you want to make the discussion more open to the policy position of all parties I would have "Training policies exploit the unemployed" (no mention of Libs).

NOTE: I had broken the quote tags when I posted by accidentally deleting a header which had the effect of misattributing comments to the wrong poster. I have fixed this in my posts.

bogarde73 wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 10:51am:

Training courses that are more or less mandatory for basic occupations should be free, govt. funded, whether through TAFE or private. I am thinking of the kind of things John mentioned, whether it's cleaning, fork lift operation whatever.

We need some sensible limits to prevent someone who's unemployed becoming a perpetual student of training courses. A sensible balance needs to be struck.

At present the existing limits on funding are far too restrictive and end up with a lot of harmful outcomes. If a particular job requires multiple qualifications, something as simple as studying component courses in the wrong order can cause loss of government funding for the remaining courses that are studied out of sequence. Yet studying courses out of sequence is frequently necessary because offered course dates are inflexible and there's no guarantee that the dates will be in the correct sequence. The result can often end up reducing someone's employability.

Furthermore, the decision making has no transparency and there's no simple structured appeals process to overturn even the most asinine of outcomes.

As a bare minimum, someone should be able to gain access to funding for missing components by demonstrating that they need those courses to gain employment, or because they needed to study courses out of sequence due to course availability.


Quote:

But it doesn't alter the  situation that there are not enough jobs to go round, at least at present and maybe for quite a while to come. Blame globalisation, move to service economy, technology etc for all of that, not necessarily politicians of either side.

I assign full blame to any politician who refuses to acknowledge the lack of jobs, who formulates policy on the unstated assumption that everyone can get a job at the same time, or who assumes axiomatically that anyone without a job isn't trying. At present, that's representatives from most political parties. However, the Liberals have amply demonstrated the most disconnection from reality on unemployment issues, so I have no problem with singling them out for special shaming.

The lack of jobs is also more insidious than many people think. A simple comparison of advertised positions to Newstart recipients - or other similar raw comparisons - does not take into account the following factors (among others):
1. Most positions are filled by job swappers and not the unemployed. Statistics on this are quite difficult to find.
2. Not everyone who is unemployed and looking for work is claiming Newstart. Some may be claiming other benefits, or may be claiming no income support at all.
3. Not everyone who wants a job is counted as unemployed. Some people may have given up looking.
4. Not everyone who is looking for work is unemployed. Many people are looking for more work - the underemployed.
5. Not all job vacancies are advertised.

If these factors are taken together, we should see that official statistics do not paint a true picture of the labour market for the unemployed.

Bam wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 8:39am:

Yes, neither major party has anything to be proud of here. The Howard government set up the current system. The Rudd, Gillard and Abbott governments kept it in place. The biggest shame for all these governments is that they have formulated policy without speaking to unemployed people to find out what works and what doesn't, and where money is being wasted. How can they know what's going on if they only ever have one side of the story? There's a lot of money being wasted - but the government are not ever going to find out about it if they only talk to the ones benefiting from the waste. The current government are proposing to cut Newstart for anyone over 30. They could save a similar amount of money by prohibiting recruitment agencies from running vocational courses, or by a similar tightening of the rules. These are just a few examples of the flaws with the current job network system (a rather Orwellian name). Despite the system being in place for 17 years, it has not ever had a major review . A comprehensive review is overdue.

Yes, but everyone knows the unemployed are a hopeless, uneducated, useless, bunch of loser rabble with no skills and no real idea so are not worth talking to about things - while the providers of rorts training are skilled, educated, knowledgeable, professional people with a firm handle on the realities..........

(tongue in cheek)....

Bam wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 11:38am:

5. Not all job vacancies are advertised.

All good points, especially that one.

The majority of vacancies are not advertised.

Only about 20 percent of all available jobs are publicly advertised.

bogarde73 wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 10:51am:

Training courses that are more or less mandatory for basic occupations should be free, govt. funded, whether through TAFE or private. I am thinking of the kind of things John mentioned, whether it's cleaning, fork lift operation whatever. But it doesn't alter the  situation that there are not enough jobs to go round, at least at present and maybe for quite a while to come. Blame globalisation, move to service economy, technology etc for all of that, not necessarily politicians of either side. (I taught in TAFE accounting for a while and I don't have a lot of respect for the organisation, but it's there and better than nothing.)

I did that course , NSW tafe

Ass. Dip. in Acc. although I believe it's now called a certificate 1V in Accounting or some such crap (like that means anything to anyone  :D :D)