A national training provider will repay more than $40 million to the federal government after it admitted signing up vulnerable students using misleading claims.
Careers Australia, which has campuses in NSW and Victoria, has admitted that some of its agents broke Australian consumer law by misrepresenting courses as free, and offering inducements such as iPads and laptops to get students to sign up to classes.
Consumers were also misled that the courses would allow them to find employment, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found.
"This conduct affected some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of consumers in Australia," ACCC chairman Rodd Simms said.
"For example, it is unacceptable that Careers Australia allowed 80 consumers from a remote Aboriginal community in Yarrabah, Queensland to be enrolled into courses and incur debts when they were offered inducements to sign up but not alerted to the debts they would incur."
Careers Australia received around $190 million in commonwealth funding under the VET-FEE-HELP student loan scheme for more than 20,000 students between August 2013 and March 2015.
As part of an agreement with the ACCC, Careers Australia has since cancelled 12,130 enrolments and repaid $44.3 million to the federal government.
Students will also have their public debt reversed or cancelled under the agreement, which will allow the company to avoid going to the Federal Court.
A new compliance program, including training for staff and regular reviews for Careers Australia's campuses, has also been implemented.
The NSW Labor opposition meanwhile says it's concerned the VET provider may have also received millions in funding under the state government's Smart and Skilled program.
"The Baird government needs to confirm to NSW taxpayers that their money didn't fund Careers Australia and if it did, they need to outline how NSW will get that money back," opposition spokeswoman for skills Prue Car said on Monday.
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