Greenfield Education Pty Ltd and Australian Skills Quality Authority

Greenfield Education Pty Ltd (the applicant) sought a stay of a decision made by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) on 7 August 2018, which cancelled the applicant's registration as a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) under section 39 of the *National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011* (Cth), effective from 11 September 2018. The cancellation decision was based on allegations that the applicant was non-compliant with specific clauses of the RTO Standards.

The court was required to determine whether to grant the stay application, considering the provisions of section 41(2) of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth). This involved assessing several factors, including the prospects of success of the substantive application for review, the consequences for the applicant if the stay were refused, the public interest, the consequences for ASQA in carrying out its functions, and whether the review application would be rendered nugatory without a stay.

In its reasoning, the court acknowledged that while a full consideration of the merits of the substantive application was not appropriate at this interlocutory stage, it needed to be satisfied that the applicant had some prospects of success. The court noted the extensive history of non-compliance by the applicant with RTO Standards, as evidenced by ASQA's audit findings between 2014 and 2018, and that the applicant had not provided evidence of rectification of the non-compliances that led to the cancellation decision. ASQA argued that, given this history, the applicant's prospects of success were not strong.

The application for a stay was refused.