The Federal Government says it is cutting red tape for vocational colleges, by removing regulations around changing courses or introducing new ones.

Vocational colleges will no longer need the Australian Skills Quality Authority’s permission for such moves.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says it means industry skills councils (ISCs) will no longer hold sway on the development and maintenance of training packages.

He said the Government was moving to a “contestable” model, wherein ISCs are forced to tender for roles in VET curricula.

“Industry must have the freedom to design the type of training they’re after, through both full trades qualifications and through skill sets,” Mr Macfarlane has told News Corp.

Opposition skills spokesperson Sharon Bird says the move is the latest nail in the coffin of union involvement in training.

“The proposal to abolish industry skills councils is yet another short-sighted decision by the government to silence the voice of students, workers, unions, TAFEs and other providers on the future of the VET sector,” she said

Ms Bird said it was the third heavy blow, after the abolition of the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency and the appointment of a “narrow, hand-picked VET Advisory Board” with questionable experience.

“Now, he proposes to abolish the tripartite industry skills councils and replace the massive experience and knowledge of all their participants with a narrow bidding process,” she said.

But the chief of TAFE Directors Australia, Martin Riordan, says the changes should not stop there.

“The nation’s TAFE institutes are high performance, low-risk providers,” he said.

“TAFEs should receive delegation to manage their own scope of course registration and have the ability to accredit courses.”