Productivity Partners Pty Ltd (trading as Captain Cook College) v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2023] FCAFC 54

Federal Court of Australia

Productivity Partners Pty Ltd (trading as Captain Cook College) v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2023] FCAFC 54 Appeal from: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Productivity Partners Pty Ltd (trading as Captain Cook College) (No 3) [2021] FCA 737 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Productivity Partners Pty Ltd (trading as Captain Cook College (No 5) [2021] FCA 919

File number(s): NSD 887 of 2021 NSD 895 of 2021

Judgment of: WIGNEY, O'BRYAN AND DOWNES JJ

Date of judgment: 6 April 2023

Catchwords: CONSUMER LAW – unconscionable conduct – statutory unconscionability under s 21 of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) – registered training organisation provided vocational education and training under Commonwealth's Vocational Education and Training Fee Higher Education Loan Program (VFH scheme) – whether certain changes made by the registered training organisation to the student enrolment process, and the claiming and retaining of revenue in respect of enrolments under the VFH scheme, constituted unconscionable conduct – whether a senior executive of the registered training organisation was knowingly concerned in, or party to, the alleged contraventions of the registered training organisation for the purpose of ss 224, 246 and 248 of the ACL – whether conduct of sales and marketing agents of the registered training organisation undertaken in contravention of ss 18, 21 or 29 of the ACL can be taken to have been engaged in by the registered training organisation within the meaning of s 139B(2) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) – whether conduct of registered training organisation was not unconscionable by reason that the organisation promptly remedied harm that was caused by conduct that would otherwise have been characterised as unconscionable