Govt cracks down on shonky trainers

The government has pledged to break the business model of shonks and fraudsters in the vocational education system by banning inducements that lure students through their front doors.

There will be no more free lunches, iPads or cash for students under the federal crackdown on private training providers.

Vocational educators will no longer be able to offer inducements for students to sign up, run "miraculously" short courses, recruit vulnerable students or charge lump sum fees for a whole course.

"Gone will be the days of free iPads, laptops, meal vouchers or cash giveaways to sign people up to a student loan," assistant education minister Simon Birmingham told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

"These changes will eliminate shonks and fraudsters and charlatans from the system. I am confident the changes will break their business model."

Senator Birmingham said there had been an explosion in private providers since 2012, when the former Labor government expanded access to taxpayer-funded student loans.

The crackdown would save students from taking out more than $16 billion in unnecessary or dubious loans over the next 10 years, he said.

"That's a massive saving to taxpayers but also a protection for the individual because these loans go on people's bottom lines," the minister said.

Labor leader Bill Shorten said the massive expansion of private providers had brought "unintended consequences".

"We've seen some private providers gaming the system," he told reporters on the NSW central coast.