Hilal Family Day Care Scheme and Secretary, Department of Education and Training

The applicant, Hilal Family Day Care Scheme, sought review of a decision by the Secretary, Department of Education and Training, to cancel its approval as a child care service. The dispute concerned alleged breaches of obligations under family assistance law, specifically the failure to provide weekly reports containing accurate information and the failure to remit moneys wrongly paid. The matter came before Deputy President Rayment QC.

The court was required to determine whether the applicant had committed serious contraventions of the family assistance law, as alleged by the respondent. This involved assessing whether the applicant had failed to institute a proper system to comply with its statutory obligations and whether the breaches were of a nature that warranted the cancellation of its approval as a child care service.

Deputy President Rayment QC found that comprehensive and serious contraventions of the family assistance law by the applicant had been established. His Honour considered that the respondent’s decision to cancel the applicant’s approval, which was a discretionary power under the relevant statute, was the correct or preferable decision. The court affirmed the reviewable decision.