Anthony Albanese’s ‘Toorak dinner mate’ Rupinder Brar forced to shut foreign college

Rupinder Brar drives a Rolls-Royce and dines with Anthony Albanese – but a watchdog has shut his ‘non-compliant’ foreign college.

Rupinder Brar, seated next to Anthony Albanese, at a function held in Toorak in November.

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An international college owned by a businessman who sat next to Anthony Albanese at a suspected ALP election fundraising dinner has been banned by a federal watchdog.

The Administrative Review Tribunal has dismissed an application by Barkly International College – owned by Rolls-Royce-driving Indian-Australian property developer Rupinder Brar – to continue teaching foreign students pending an appeal against its deregistration.

The Australian Skills Quality Authority’s decision to cancel BIC’s registration for breaching 30 regulations has now been triggered, with the watchdog confirming the college “can no longer operate as … a registered training organisation”.

ASQA uncovered “significant noncompliance” in training, ­assessment, enrolment, marketing and governance systems, ­including a lack of training for students, insufficient trainers and educational support services and facilities to support students.

BIC was found to have breached regulations that its marketing information was “accurate and factual” and did not guarantee a student would successfully complete training and get a job.

ASQA also found BIC to be in breach of regulations stipulating English-language skills, educational qualifications and work experience were sufficient to enable students to enter the course.

Rupinder Brar and Anthony Albanese at the suspected Labor fundraiser in Toorak.

The college was found by ASQA to have breached regulations stipulating marketing and promotion of courses and education services to recruit overseas students was “not false or misleading”. ART member Rebecca Smith said, given BIC applied for the legal stay, it was expected the college would put its “best foot forward” to demonstrate compliance.

“However, the evidence before the tribunal rises no higher than assurances that the mode of operation has changed and some of the non-compliant conduct has been addressed,” Ms Smith found.

“(BIC) has been on notice of the noncompliance since May 2024 and, despite this, the evidence relied upon is of a general nature. On the basis of the material before it, the tribunal cannot conclude there are any prospects of success … this factor therefore weighs against the grant of a stay.”

Ms Smith ruled that granting a stay was “not desirable” despite noting claims the decision could disrupt staff and students, and have an impact on BIC’s finances.

“Those matters are outweighed by the failure to provide evidence as to prospects of success in the substantive review, the public interest in minimising the potential exposure of the current students to non-compliant teaching or a devalued qualification and the public interest in minimising the risk of damage to the reputation of the … sector,” the tribunal member found.

Rupinder Brar.

Mr Brar is the director and secretary of Barkly International College, and another Brar company, Brar Family Investments, is the sole shareholder of the college, based in Melbourne’s CBD.

On Wednesday, Mr Brar told The Australian that BIC had lodged ­another stay application and would continue “full steam ahead” with its appeal.

“Our primary commitment is to the welfare of our students and staff,” he said. “This is why we have filed another application for a stay of the decision to enable our students to continue their studies and enable our staff to continue providing professional high-quality teaching. This is in addition to proceeding full steam ahead with our application to overturn the ASQA decision as well, as we ­believe, and our legal advice ­indicates, that we are compliant with ASQA’s registration requirements.”

Mr Brar and about a dozen of his associates dined privately with the Prime Minister in a Toorak mansion on ­November 12 in what Indian community and Labor figures claim was an ALP event to raise money for this year’s election. Mr Albanese’s principal private secretary, David Epstein, also attended the dinner.

Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews also attended the banquet at which Mr Brar sat next to Mr Albanese. All three figures have dodged questions about whether the dinner – described by one guest as “four hours of exquisite cuisine and hospitality” – was a Labor fundraiser and, if so, how much money was raised, and what was discussed.

Barkly International College, which caters mainly to Indian students, had capacity to have 1200 students on its books, but recently this number fell to about 180. Most of the students were Indian and enrolled in courses including English language, business management, marketing, mechanics, cooking and kitchen management. They were charged ­between $7500 and $18,000.

Documents reveal BIC’s rental costs are about $66,000 a month and the wages bill for its two permanent staff and a dozen contractors is about $80,000 a month.

Ms Smith said she was not convinced by BIC’s argument that without a stay the college faced collapse, and that it had failed to present ­financial reports, tax returns or bank statements to support its claims.

Mr Brar has made a fortune out of property investments, in one case pocketing a $22m profit when a company associated with him bought a Craigieburn block for $11m and sold it a year later for $33m. Four months after paying $11m, the Victorian government announced Amazon was locating to a nearby industrial estate. Mr Brar has told The Australian the business had “no knowledge” that Amazon was moving nearby when it bought the block.