Ignoring those very inconvenient canaries in the coal mine

For more than a quarter of a century there has been a bipartisan commitment to the introduction of competitive markets into the vocational education and training sector that continues unabated. Specific intended benefits of marketisation, as described in the 1990 deveson Report, included the elimination of the monopoly of training provision enjoyed by state-owned TAFe bureaucracies, increased efficiency and provision of greater choice for students and employers.