Australian Tertiary Academy Pty Ltd and Australian Skills Quality Authority

This matter concerned an application for review by Australian Tertiary Academy Pty Ltd (the applicant) of a decision by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) to cancel its registration as a registered training organisation. The cancellation, effective from 31 January 2017, followed ASQA's conclusion that the applicant had failed to comply with various standards for registered training organisations, issues first identified in an audit in mid-2015. The applicant sought review of this decision in the Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the application for review should be summarily dismissed under section 42B of the relevant Act on the grounds that it had no reasonable prospect of success. This question arose in the context of the applicant's alleged failure to comply with section 211 of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (NVR Act), which mandates the production of VET student records to ASQA within 30 days of registration cancellation. ASQA contended that the applicant had not provided all required VET student records by the deadline of 2 March 2017, and that the records eventually provided were incomplete, failing to include essential information such as assessment details and qualification awards.

Deputy President Bernard J McCabe considered the broad power of ASQA to cancel registration under section 39 of the NVR Act, noting that while not explicitly defined, this power must be exercised for a proper purpose and within the legislative scheme. The Tribunal was not satisfied that the applicant's alleged non-compliance with section 211, or any other aspect of the case, rendered the application for review devoid of any reasonable prospect of success. The Deputy President indicated that the applicant's obligation to produce records under section 211 was a significant matter, but that the Tribunal required further examination to determine if the application lacked any reasonable prospect of success.

The Tribunal refused ASQA's application for summary dismissal.