Commonwealth of Australia v Harrison (No. 2) [2020] FCA 786

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Commonwealth of Australia v Harrison (No. 2) [2020] FCA 786 File number(s): NSD 2074 of 2018

Judge(s): PERRY J

Date of judgment: 5 June 2020

Catchwords: CONSUMER LAW – where declarations earlier made on entry of default judgment of multiple contraventions of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (Cth) – where, among other things, the respondent through her business Glow Salon offered to provide Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses or parts of VET courses, and purported to issue VET statements of attainment and VET qualifications, when the respondent was not a registered training organisation and the VET statements of attainment and VET qualifications were not genuine – where respondent used and displayed false VET qualifications – where contraventions involved persistent deliberate deceit for monetary gain – where contraventions caused demonstrated loss and damage to individuals – where conduct undermined integrity of VET system to detriment of VET sector, economy and public – where training included procedures with capacity to harm public health – where necessary to send strong message of general and specific deterrence – total civil penalties of $571,000.00 imposed COSTS – whether appropriate to award costs in a fixed amount pursuant to Federal Court Rules r 40.02(b) – where respondent's complete lack of engagement with proceedings renders it unlikely she would participate in any taxation and applicant would therefore incur unnecessary costs if costs were taxed

Legislation: Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) s 4AA Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious Drugs, Identity Crimes Legislation Amendment (Penalty Unit) Act 2015 (Cth) Crime and Other Measures) Act 2012 (Cth) Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) s 40 Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) s 37M National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (Cth) ss 2A, 117, 125, 127, 129, 131,137, 141 Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Regulations 2011 (Cth) reg 15