Foreign student kingpin Rupinder Brar dines with Anthony Albanese, Dan Andrews at Labor event
Anthony Albanese was the star attraction at a private dinner in a Melbourne mansion at which he sat next to a wealthy foreign student kingpin whose international college has been deregistered after federal investigators uncovered ‘significant noncompliance’.
Anthony Albanese was the star attraction at a private dinner in a Toorak mansion at which the Labor Prime Minister sat next to a wealthy foreign student kingpin whose international college has been deregistered after federal investigators uncovered “significant noncompliance”.
The Australian can reveal multi-millionaire international college operator Rupinder Brar was one of about a dozen Indian-Australian business figures who dined with Mr Albanese at the VIP event on November 12 last year.
The Prime Minister’s principal private secretary, David Epstein, and former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews also attended the intimate event, which one of the guests described as “four hours of exquisite cuisine and hospitality”.
In the midst of a crackdown on dodgy international colleges that has led to the federal watchdog launching almost 200 investigations, Mr Albanese found himself sitting alongside Mr Brar who has been engaged in a marathon legal bid to overturn the deregistration of his firm, Barkly International College.
Asked directly by The Australian on Wednesday if the event was a Labor Party fundraiser, the Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment but confirmed Mr Albanese did attend a function at a private residence with Mr Andrews and a staffer. The office also declined to comment on what Mr Albanese and Mr Brar discussed over dinner.
Multiple Labor figures have said the dinner was more than likely a political fundraising event designed to raise campaign donations for Labor ahead of the 2025 federal election.
Barkly International College, which caters mainly to Indian students, was deregistered in May after what the Australian Skills Quality Authority described in a statement to The Australian as “significant noncompliance … in relation to training and assessment, enrolment and marketing and governance systems”.
Barkly has appealed the decision and has launched legal action to overturn the deregistration so it can continue to operate.
Dinner guests have revealed in social media posts that among the issues discussed during the November event were visas, tourism, the economy and the property and construction sectors.
The Australian also asked the PMO why Mr Andrews and Mr Epstein attended the Indian-inspired feast, which was washed down with red wine.
The PMO declined to comment. Mr Andrews did not respond to questions from The Australian.
A video filmed by one of the guests has emerged and reveals guests raised Indian community concerns over the federal government’s visa processes with the Prime Minister.
The short video posted on social media by businessman Sahil Nijhawan suggests among the concerns raised were that visa applications by husbands and wives were assessed separately rather than together.
Amid laughter – and someone quipping “the wife is organising this” – Mr Nijhawan tells the Prime Minister about the concerns. Mr Andrews steps in at this point, saying: “The logic is that instead of being processed together they’re being processed separately with different risk ratings … all gender jokes aside.”
Mr Nijhawan then says: “There’s a big push right now in India where they are going ‘OK, well let’s go to New Zealand because Australia is taking 60 days’.”
The November 12 lunch came in the midst of the marathon legal fight by Mr Brar’s foreign student business, Barkly International College, to overturn a federal watchdog’s decision to cancel its registration. Mr Brar, who has made a fortune out of bringing Indian students to Melbourne and in the residential and commercial construction industry, sat next to Mr Albanese at the lunch and social media photos of the event reveal at one stage he was showing the PM something on his mobile phone. Mr Andrews sat immediately to the right of the PM.
In an Instagram post shortly after the lunch, Mr Brar stated: “Great Meeting with Honourable Prime Minister of Australia!”
Mr Brar did not respond to questions from The Australian.
Indian-Australian businessman Dushyant Khanna and his wife Ridhima Khanna hosted the Prime Minister for the lunch at their Toorak mansion, which was catered for by leading Indian restaurant Atta.
Guests posed alongside Mr Albanese at the event, and several have posted about the VIP lunch on social media.
In a social media post the next day, Ms Khanna said her family had the “privilege of hosting Mr Anthony Albanese, Hon. Prime Minister of Australia at our residence this week”.
“An incredible moment and milestone for the Indian business leaders who came forward to support this as well to mention the widespread community we represent.”
Mr Khanna did not return messages from The Australian on Wednesday. But Ms Khanna, who is travelling overseas, told The Australian the evening with the PM was “pretty memorable”, although she declined to comment further.
The Australian Skills Quality Authority, the federal watchdog that monitors the nation’s booming international colleges, has confirmed it moved to strip Barkly International College of registration on May 20, 2024.
“ASQA made a decision to cancel the registration of Barkly International College in May 2024 after significant noncompliance was identified during an audit of the provider’s compliance with its obligations under the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 and the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
“ASQA’s findings of noncompliance were in relation to training and assessment, enrolment and marketing and governance systems.”
ASQA declined to disclose specific details of the breaches to The Australian, stating: “Barkly International College has appealed this decision with the Administrative Review Tribunal. For legal reasons it is not appropriate to provide further information on cases where regulatory action is under way and not finalised.”
Australian Securities & Investment Commission records confirm Mr Brar is a director and secretary of Barkly International College, which has two campuses, one based in Lonsdale Street in the Melbourne CBD and the other in North Melbourne.
The Lonsdale Street offices were open when The Australian visited on Wednesday. A senior staff member confirmed that ASQA had cancelled its registration, but declined to comment further other than to confirm that Mr Brar was overseas.
Barkly offers Indian students a range of courses, including English language skills, business management, marketing, mechanics, cooking and kitchen management and charges students between $7500 and $18,000 for the courses. “Barkly International College strives to offer affordable and high-quality education in a friendly environment,” the college website states.
Another Brar company, Brar Family Investments Pty Ltd, is the sole shareholder in Barkly, according to ASIC records.
Three weeks after ASQA stripped Barkly of its registration, the business lodged a request to delay the cancellation, which was granted until July.
This was again delayed over the subsequent three months as Barkly tried to save itself.
ASQA records show on November 13, the day after the lunch with Mr Albanese and Mr Andrews, the original deregistration decision was “affirmed”.
But Barkly launched a last-ditch bid to overturn the decision, and on December 5 lodged a request with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to stay the deregistration.
This was granted on December 11, with the AAT ruling: “Interim stay a. The applicant does not do anything for the purpose of recruiting or enrolling students in any course; and b. The applicant does not enrol any new students in any course.”
In one post on Instagram, another guest, Sahil Nijhawan, said the photos of him standing alongside Mr Albanese “deserves the wall!”
“I always say stay humble, never say never and there are no shortcuts to success,” he posted.
“After an incredible 18 years journey in Australia, I had the incredible honor of dining with the Prime Minister @albomp alongside a select group of entrepreneurs representing our community.
“We engaged in inspiring stories of the Prime Minister and his ever-so-amazing experiences on his trips to India and discussions about tourism growth in Australia and the pivotal role @australia tourism and state offices are playing in India’s expanding inbound tourism sector.
“Along with discussions around the economy and growth of the property and construction sectors in the years to come. A heartfelt thank you to our gracious hosts … for four hours of exquisite cuisine and hospitality. You guys were amazing.”
Another guest, Shinkoo Nabha, who promotes a range of international student-related businesses on his social media, posted after the lunch that it was an “absolute pleasure to get along with the Top Man of the country … such a inspiring counter. True gentleman !!!”
ASQA says it has been cracking down on international student operators in the past two years and cited a federal funding boost of $37.8m in 2023 to support quality and integrity.
This saw a range of measures including the establishment of a new integrity unit and tip-off line within ASQA. The watchdog said this investment had strengthened ASQA’s capacity to continue to take action against illegal behaviour and non-genuine providers.
Since ASQA launched its tip-off line on October 4, it has received more than 3200 calls, with more than half providing actionable intelligence.
More than 185 serious matters, involving 160 providers, are currently under investigation, and ASQA has conducted more than 60 raids on operators.
ASQA told The Australian its priorities in 2024-25 would be to investigate an increased threat from non-genuine providers and bad-faith operators, inadequate or fraudulent recognition of prior learning, shortened course duration, academic cheating and student work placement.
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