Christian Community Ministries Ltd v Minister for Education and Early Learning [2024] NSWCA 1

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Christian Community Ministries Ltd v Minister for Education and Early Learning [2024] NSWCA 1 Hearing dates: 12 September 2023 Date of orders: 30 January 2024 Decision date: 30 January 2024 Before: Gleeson JA at [1]; Mitchelmore JA at [2]; Griffiths AJA at [3] Decision: The appeal is dismissed, with costs. Catchwords: EDUCATION – financial assistance to non-government schools – entitlement conditioned on school not operating for profit – decision made to recover past financial assistance on the basis that the relevant school was non-compliant because it had operated for profit from 2015 to 2020 STATUTORY INTERPRETATION – where Minister made recovery decision under s 83J of Education Act 1990 (NSW) and non-compliance declaration under s 83F of that Act – whether Minister was empowered to make recovery decision in relation to the period prior to her making the non-compliance declaration because she had not reached the requisite state of satisfaction that the school was operating for profit under s 83E of that Act Legislation Cited: Education Act 1990 (NSW) Pt 7 Div 3 ss 83A-83L, s 107(1)(e2) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 59.9 Cases Cited: Carr v State of Western Australia (2007) 232 CLR 138; [2007] HCA 47 Christian Community Ministries Ltd v Minister for Education and Early Learning [2023] NSWSC 272 Gaffey v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2000] NSWSC 403 Malek Fahd Islamic School Limited v Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning [2022] NSWSC 1176 Malek Fahd Islamic School Limited v Minister for Education and Early Learning [2023] NSWCA 143 Shrestha v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2018) 264 CLR 151; [2018] HCA 35 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Christian Community Ministries Ltd (Appellant) Minister for Education and Early Learning (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: P Knowles SC/M Sherman (Appellant) J Emmett SC/E Jones (Respondent)