The business community strongly welcomes Labor’s proposal for a ground-breaking national inquiry into Post-Secondary Education, Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott said today.

“Tanya Plibersek is right, we must put VET and higher education on an equal footing, and that means building one system across all of tertiary education.

“This inquiry is a vital first step – helping define the roles of federal and state governments, focussing on the need for life-long learning and elevating the vocational education sector. 

“Reforming our education system isn’t just a moral imperative it’s an economic one.

“The world is changing rapidly and that means to compete, Australian workers must be the best trained and most resilient on earth.

“We need an education system which enables every Australian to thrive because when they do, so does the nation.

“The VET sector can no longer be seen as a second-class citizen to our universities, that simply isn’t fair to the 1.3 million learners entering the VET system each year.

“We applaud the Opposition’s recognition that both sectors will be vital in building an enduring, world class tertiary education system.

“We hope the Business Council’s recent Future Proof education reform paper will be a useful contribution to the work of the inquiry and look forward to working with any government committed to reform.”