National licensing plans cancelled
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) decided on December 13 to forgo the idea of uniform licensing for industry across the nation, announcing that the policy for a National Occupational Licensing System (NOLS) would no longer be pursued.
It had been speculated that once the federal government changed hands, the scheme would be doomed.
A COAG communique released on December 16 says that following the outcome of extensive State-based consultation, the majority of States decided not to pursue the proposed National Occupational Licensing Scheme reform.
“Most jurisdictions identified a number of concerns with the proposed NOLS model and potential costs. States instead decided to investigate approaches that would increase labour mobility and deliver net benefits for businesses and governments,” said COAG in the communiqué.
As a consequence, the task of improving labour mobility across borders has been assumed by the States and Territories, but they will work together through the Council for the Australian Federation (CAF) to develop alternative options for minimising licensing impediments to improving labour mobility. From early 2014 it will commence the orderly disestablishment of the National Occupational Licensing Authority (NOLA), the authority tasked to implement the scheme.
One option up for consideration is an enhancement to the existing mutual recognition arrangements, which would operate in a similar way to the current driver’s licence framework. Essentially, State-issued licences would permit the bearer to undertake an equivalent scope of work in another jurisdiction.
No impact on Cert III and Cert IV
Meanwhile, SPRAA executive officer, Greg Every, says there will be no effect or impact on the Certificate III and IV courses.
"NOLA had, as one of its aims, national licensing of occupations such as plumbing/gasfitting and electricians. SPRAA supported national licensing for both these trades and made submissions to support our view," he says.
"The thing is the various states had differing views on the need and timelines for national licensing and there was no universal push from the states to follow the federal drive that was occurring. There was never any push with NOLA to move into the educational sphere because there was no need - the Cert III and IV are already Nationally Recognised Qualifications.
"With national qualifications such as these they can be taught anywhere in Australia and assessed by any Recognised Training Organisation (RTO) which has the qualifications ‘on scope’. By having a qualification on scope an RTO can assess Recognition of Prior Learning candidates, teach the subject and assess it," he says.
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