Details of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Education and Training Measures No. 4) Regulations 2018

 

Section 1 - Name

 

This section provides that the title of the Regulations is the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Education and Training Measures No. 4) Regulations 2018.

 

Section 2 - Commencement

 

This section provides that the Regulations commence on the day after the instrument is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

 

Section 3 - Authority

 

This section provides that the Regulations are made under the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997.

 

Section 4 - Schedules

 

This section provides that the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 are amended as set out in the Schedule to the Regulations.

 

Schedule 1 - Amendments

 

Item 1 - In the appropriate position in Part 4 of Schedule 1AB (table)

 

This item adds a new table item to Part 4 of Schedule 1AB to establish legislative authority for government spending on an initiative that will be administered by the Department of the Education and Training (the department).

 

New table item 325 establishes legislative authority for government spending to support the establishment and operation of an Advanced Welding Training Centre (the Centre) in Caboolture, Queensland, to train and upskill local welding apprentices and new and existing workers.

 

Funding for the Centre in Caboolture was announced on 9 July 2018 by the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, and the then Minister for Education and Training, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham.

 

The Government will provide grant funding to Weld Australia in 2018-19 to establish and operate the Centre, including the purchase of ten state-of-the-art augmented reality welding simulators. Funding will also be provided for training to support local trainers and assessors to deliver training with the support of the equipment. This equipment will allow the Centre to support up to 200 existing and new workers and apprentices to upskill each year, including to international welding certification standard ISO 9606-1 'Qualification testing of welders - Fusion welding - Part 1: Steel'. This standard is the minimum requirement for working on rolling stock, and defence and infrastructure projects.

 

The flexibility and mobility of the welding simulators will mean that they can be transported to companies around South East Queensland for onsite training. Local Caboolture and South East Queensland businesses will also benefit through increased competitive advantage, locally, nationally and internationally, through their workers having high-quality international standard welding skills.

 

Funding will be provided to Weld Australia under a grant agreement with the Department of Education and Training, in one instalment consisting of:

*         $650,000 to enable Weld Australia to purchase the augmented reality welding simulators; and

*         $100,000 to establish infrastructure and ensure local trainers have the skills and knowledge to deliver world-class training for new and existing industry workers.

 

The grant funding will be made in accordance with the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines 2017. Funding will consist of a one-off payment to support the establishment and operation of the Centre through a non-competitive grant. A delegate of the Secretary of the department will execute the grant. Information about the grant will be available on GrantConnect at www.grants.com.au.

 

Delivery will be the responsibility of the grant recipient, Weld Australia, and performance will be monitored through the grant agreement with reporting requirements.

 

Independent review will not be available for the grant provided for the Centre in Caboolture as the grant will be ad hoc, non-competitive, for a specific entity (Weld Australia) and for specific purposes.

 

Funding for this item will come from Program 2.8: Building Skills and Capability, which is part of Outcome 2. Details will be set out in the relevant portfolio budget statements.

 

Noting that it is not a comprehensive statement of relevant Constitutional considerations, the objective of the item references the external affairs power of the Constitution (section 51(xxix)).

 

Section 51(xxix) of the Constitution empowers the Parliament to make laws with respect to 'external affairs'. The external affairs power supports legislation implementing Australia's international obligations under treaties to which it is a party.

 

Australia has obligations relating to the Convention concerning Employment Policy (ILO Convention 122), the Convention concerning Vocational Guidance and Vocational Training in the Development of Human Resources (ILO Convention 142) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

 

Article 1(1) of the ILO Convention 122 obliges each Member to 'declare and pursue ... an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment.' Article 1(2) specifies that this policy shall aim to ensure that (among other things) 'there is work for all who are available for and seeking work'. Article 2 further requires Members to 'decide on and keep under review ... the measures to be adopted for attaining the objectives specified in Article 1', and to 'take such steps as may be needed ... for the application of these measures'.

 

Article 1(1) of the ILO Convention 142 obliges each Member to 'adopt and develop comprehensive and co-ordinated policies and programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training, closely linked with employment'. Article 1(2) requires the policies and programmes adopted for the purposes of Article 1(1) take due account of matters including 'employment needs, opportunities and problems, both regional and national'.

 

Article 2 of the ILO Convention 142 obliges each Member to 'establish and develop open, flexible and complementary systems of general, technical and vocational education, educational and vocational guidance and vocational training, whether these activities take place within the system of formal education or outside it'.

 

Article 4 of the ILO Convention 142 obliges each Member party to 'gradually extend, adapt and harmonise its vocational training systems to meet the needs for vocational training throughout life of both young persons and adults in all sectors of the economy and branches of economic activity and at all levels of skill and responsibility'.

 

Article 2 of the ICESCR provides that States Parties shall take steps to adopt legislative measures to realise the rights within ICESCR including, relevantly, the right to work under article 6(2) which includes 'technical and vocational guidance and training programmes, policies and techniques to achieve ... full and productive employment'.

 

The Centre will improve access to vocational education and training, to meet international welding certification standards, in South East Queensland. In doing so, the Centre will also promote full, productive and freely chosen employment by broadening the employment opportunities for eligible individuals, as well as helping to address employment needs and industry skills shortages.

 

 

 

 

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

 

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Education and Training Measures No. 4) Regulations 2018

 

These Regulations are compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

 

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

 

Section 32B of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997 (the FF(SP) Act) authorises the Commonwealth to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants specified in the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 (the FF(SP) Regulations) and to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants for the purposes of programs specified in the Regulations. Schedule 1AA and Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations specify the arrangements, grants and programs. The FF(SP) Act applies to Ministers and the accountable authorities of non-corporate Commonwealth entities, as defined under section 12 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

 

The Regulations amend Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations to establish legislative authority for government spending to support the establishment and operation of an Advanced Welding Training Centre (the Centre) in Caboolture, Queensland, to train and upskill local welding apprentices and new and existing workers.

 

The Government will provide grant funding to Weld Australia in 2018-19 to establish and operate the Centre, including the purchase of ten state-of-the-art augmented reality welding simulators. Funding will also be provided for training to support local trainers and assessors to deliver traning with the support of the equipment.

 

Funding of $750,000 for the Centre in Caboolture was announced on 9 July 2018 by the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, and the then Minister for Education and Training, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham.

 

The Minister for Small and Family Business, Skills and Vocational Education has portfolio responsibility for this initiative which will be administered by the Department of the Education and Training.

 

Human rights implications

 

The Regulations do not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.

 

 

Conclusion

 

These Regulations are compatible with human rights as they do not raise any human rights issues.

 

 

Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

Minister for Finance and the Public Service