‘Unacceptable’ level of transparency surrounding skills funding

The lack of transparency in how the states use the $1.5 billion in Commonwealth skills funding will be a major focus of the government’s planned overhaul, Skills Minister Michaelia Cash says. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday announced he would look to overhaul the $7.7 billion sector and rewrite deals with the states to unify public subsidies in a hope to boost jobs in the economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis. Speaking with Sky News, Senator Cash said it was “unacceptable” that the federal government is not informed about what the states do with their skills funding. “You would be aware the Commonwealth puts $1.5 billion each year into a bucket, we have no transparency, no line of sight, within reason the money is handed over to the states and territories and they can spend it as they wish as long as its on skills,” she said. “That’s really unacceptable. If the Commonwealth is going to give money over to the states and territories we do need to get a much better understanding of where that money is going, why that money is being spent in a certain area, so we act in the best interests of the 4.2 million Australians who are currently undertaking vocational education training in Australia.” Via news.com.au — Australia’s #1 news site https://www.news.com.au