THE PRIVATE, PUBLIC AND OPEN TRAINING MARKETS: A STUDY OF PRIVATE TRAINING PROVIDERS IN REGIONAL NORTH QUEENSLAND PETER KELL James Cook University Jo BALATTI James Cook University SANDY MUSPRATT Griffith University Introduction Recently, Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Australia has been subjected to a number of policy changes. One of the most significant of these involves deregulating the training market, and opening it to competition from both private and public training organisations. Advocates of a competitive Open Training Market have suggested that private trainers will not only expand the quantum of training but also provide a diverse and client centred focus to training; features that some claim the public sector, alone, is incapable of attaining. Throughout their periods in office the Hawke and Keating Federal Labor governments actively sought to expand the participation of both the VET sector and private training organisations in an Open Training Market. For instance, the introduction of the Training Guarantee Act in the late 1980s opened the door to the private sector, and the establishment of the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) in 1992 introduced the framework for a competitive training market and enabled private providers to tender for significant amounts of federal government funds. More recently, statements by Dr David Kemp, the new Liberal Minister for Schools, Vocational Education and Training, have AUSTRALIAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER VOLUME 24 No 2 AUGUST 1997 43