EMY v NSW Education Standards Authority

Civil and Administrative Tribunal

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

EMY v NSW Education Standards Authority [2020] NSWCATAD 309

Hearing dates:

1 December 2020

Date of orders:

1 December 2020

Decision date:

11 December 2020

Jurisdiction:

Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division

Before:

L Pearson, Principal Member

Decision:

The application by EMY to stay the decision to recommend refusal of the application for registration of ENA for home schooling is refused.

Catchwords:

INTERLOCUTORY ORDER – recommendation to refuse application for home schooling - application for stay

Legislation Cited:

Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997

Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013

Education Act 1990

Cases Cited:

Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards v Vandenbovenkamp [2016] NSWCA 268

Loveday v Commissioner for Fair Trading [2018] NSWCATAD 80

QLD Protection Security Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2018] NSWCATAP 113

Texts Cited:

None cited

Category:

Procedural and other rulings

Parties:

EMY (Applicant)
NSW Education Standards Authority (Respondent)
EMZ (Joined party)

Representation:

Solicitors”
Applicant (Self Represented)
Lander & Rogers (Respondent)
Joined party (Self Represented)

File Number(s):

2020/00321782

Publication restriction:

Pursuant to s 64(1)(a) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 publication or broadcast of the name of the applicant, the joined party and either child is prohibited.

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. On 11 November 2020 EMY applied to the Tribunal for administrative review of a decision made by the NSW Education Standards Authority (the Authority) to recommend refusal of her application under Part 7 of the Education Act 1990 for home schooling registration of her son ENA. On the same date EMY applied for an order under s 60 of the Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 (ADR Act), seeking an order that the decision to reject re-registration for home schooling be suspended pending the determination of the review application.

2. The application for a stay was heard on 1 December 2020, and refused, with reasons to be provided later. The following are the reasons for that decision.

Background

3. On 16 June 2020 EMY applied under s 71 of the Education Act for registration of ENA, born in 2007, for home schooling. The application was opposed by EMZ, father of ENA.

4. A recommendation for refusal was made on 19 August 2020, and affirmed on internal review on 12 October 2020. The internal review decision referred to court orders made on 23 January 2017 by the Federal Circuit Court of Australia relating to ENA, which provide that both parents have equal shared parental responsibility for the children ENA and ENB (born in 2010) in relation to their current and future education, and the decision in Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards v Vandenbovenkamp [2016] NSWCA 268. The internal review determination referred to submissions made and documents provided by EMY, including copies of orders made by the Federal Circuit Court in May 2020, which note that there is no requirement for ENA to spend time with or communicate with EMZ.

5. The internal review determination concluded that in circumstances where EMZ objected to ENA being…