King Eeducational Service Pty Ltd trading as Kinggdom Institute of Management and Australian Skills Quality Authority

King Educational Service Pty Ltd, trading as Kinggdom Institute of Management, sought review of a decision by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) to refuse its registration. The dispute concerned whether Kinggdom Institute of Management met the legislative requirements for registration as an approved provider of vocational education and training. The matter was heard by Deputy S A Forgie P.

The court was required to determine the time at which legislative requirements for registration should be considered, particularly in light of amendments to the relevant legislation. It also needed to consider the meaning and application of the phrase "no reason to believe" as used in the governing legislation, and whether a risk management approach was relevant to the assessment of compliance.

The court reasoned that the National Code 2017 was the relevant code for assessing Kinggdom Institute of Management's application, as the application was made before 31 December 2017. However, the National Code 2007 remained relevant for considering historical matters within a risk management framework under section 10E(2) of the ESOS Act. The court noted that amendments to the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2020 did not materially alter the legislation as it stood at the time ASQA made its decision, rendering further consideration of those amendments unnecessary. Applying principles from *George v Rockett* and *Re McDermott and Australian Securities and Investments Commission*, the court interpreted "no reason to believe" to mean that the decision-maker must not hold a belief that the applicant will not comply, based on evidentiary material that would induce such a belief in a reasonable person.