Last week’s woeful VET student figures, (CMM March 7) has Craig Robertson pondering what’s going on and wondering what to do about. The head of TAFE Directors Australia suggests it might be due to regulation discouraging employers from hiring, potential students finding work separate to the system, international students taking retail and cooking jobs. And then there’s one that looks to CMM like a game-changing worry, “technology and work redesign is likely reducing the need for skilled trade hands in some areas.”

Whatever is going on CMM suspects it will take more to fix than promising more money for training.