This speech was given by Business Council of Australia Chief Executive Jennifer Westacott to the TAFE Directors Australia Vision 2020 Conference in Sydney on 4 September 2014. 

The Business Council of Australia sees human capital as a game-changer in keeping both the economy and society strong, prosperous and cohesive.

In this speech, Jennifer Westacott reinforces that a number of actions are needed to create a high-performance vocational education and training sector in Australia, particularly those that will:

• restore the role and status of the VET sector nationally
• resolve roles and responsibilities between levels of government
• better integrate the VET system with other parts of the education system, and with industry
• improve regulation in support of a more dynamic, effective and innovative system, including allowing public providers to operate on a more commercial basis
• conduct a thorough assessment of future investment requirements in the sector, taking account of workforce requirements, population growth projections, and the implementation of the VET student entitlement.

Speech by Jennifer Westacott to the TAFE Directors Australia Vision 2020 Conference