Newman sets out plans for vocational training overhaul

CAMPBELL Newman will today call on the private sector to help with the overhaul of vocational training.

CAMPBELL Newman will today call on the private sector to help with the overhaul of vocational training, including delivering targeted courses to boost industry, as part of a government-wide push to gear up the Queensland economy.

In a speech to The Australian/Deutsche Bank leaders forum in Brisbane today, the Queensland premier will flag the extent of his government's training restructure, which includes the proposed scrapping of some TAFE centres, with a warning that the existing $1 billion-a-year system isn't working.

Mr Newman will also tell business leaders the state government is also focused on trade opportunities in Asia and is intent on removing burdensome regulation to allow Queensland to tap into the streams of foreign investment.

Already, the government is reviewing its trade agency and rep tape, and Mr Newman will next month take his first overseas trip to India, which is leading investment in the new coal mining frontier of the Galilee Basin in central Queensland.

"Our focus needs to be where the capital is, where trade opportunities are strongest. And that's Asia," Mr Newman will say.

"The federal government has now released its Asian Century white paper which reinforces this view. The scale and pace of Asia's rise is staggering, and there are significant opportunities we can't afford to miss."

The forum will also hear from Deutsche Bank Australia and New Zealand executive chairman JT Macfarlane, AGL chair Jeremy Maycock, Bank of Queensland chief executive Stuart Grimshaw and former Queensland Labor treasurer and company director Keith DeLacy.

Mr Newman raises the privatisation of some training and a possible move to a university-like model for TAFE centres in his response to this week's release of the Queensland Skills and Training Taskforce's final report on the future of the vocational education sector.

The report recommends pursuing training in areas of skills shortages and will cut the number of TAFEs from 82 to 44.

Mr Newman says the state government - which spends $740 million annually in vocational training, along with $400 million from the commonwealth in Queensland - needed a "better return on our investment".