ASIC chair Joseph Longo: “We cannot be everywhere.” Photo: Screenshot.
The corporate regulator has denied fobbing off whistleblowers at Brindabella Christian College who alerted them to potential wrongdoing four years before the school operators went into administration owing $24 million.
ACT Senator David Pocock asked ASIC officials at Senate estimates on Wednesday evening (3 December) to confirm receipt of confidential reports referred to it by the liquidator, Deloitte.
ASIC chair Joseph Longo said that would have to be taken on notice, but Senator Pocock followed up with a question about ASIC’s response to the whistleblower’s concerns about the school’s financial viability and the conduct of the Brindabella Christian Education Ltd board and chair.
“It now seems from the liquidator’s report all of these concerns were very well founded,” Senator Pocock said.
“This is four years ago. We could have avoided a lot of pain for thousands of students and their families.”
Deloitte believed that Brindabella Christian Education Ltd had been trading while insolvent since as early as January 2021, before finally calling in administrators in March this year, when it could no longer pay staff.
Its second creditors report found the directors, headed by board chair Greg Zwajgenberg, breached a host of directors’ duties under sections 180 to 184 of the Corporations Act, and may warrant further investigation by ASIC with a view to potential criminal prosecution.
Senator Pocock said that in 2021, ASIC had responded to the whistleblowers: “We have considered all the information provided and conducted our own preliminary and confidential enquiries. Following careful consideration, we have decided not to escalate your concerns with another team or take further action at that time.”
“It appears that that was not the right decision. Would you agree?” Senator Pocock asked.
Mr Longo said he could not agree with that proposition.
He said ASIC might receive up to 10,000 reports of misconduct in any single year and had to make judgment calls based on the information, available resources, and enforcement priorities.
“We cannot be everywhere,” he said.
“Now in the matter that you’ve mentioned, I’m quite happy to take it on notice and ASIC will review the correspondence from four years ago.”
ACT Senator David Pocock says Brindabella issues are squarely in ASIC’s domain. Photo: Screenshot.
Senator Pocock said that since the 2021 letters to ASIC, BCEL had received $40 million in Commonwealth funds, had ended up with a massive debt, and that all the concerns raised had turned out to be true.
He said there were enormous issues that fell very squarely in ASIC’s domain.
“And you just kind of fobbed it off and said, yeah, sorry, but this is not something we’re going to look into. So what steps will you take to actually review this and learn from it?” he asked.
Mr Longo said the reality was that there would be thousands more cases where ASIC would not take action.
“It is not the role of the regulator to save every business from loss, every creditor from loss, and every shareholder from loss,” he said.
“We take extremely seriously everything that’s brought to our attention, and then we have to make judgment calls as to what we’ll take action on and what we won’t.”
Senator Pocock countered that ASIC would not receive many reports from schools where very good evidence had been laid out.
“I’ve seen the letters, and so I just have real concerns when I’m having all these very good cases that fall squarely in ASIC’s remit, and you just are fobbing them off,” he said.
Mr Longo said letters were not evidence, and ASIC was not in a position to take on every cause of every person, including those of Christian colleges.
“I certainly wouldn’t want you to think we’re fobbing people off,” he said. “I reject that characterisation.
“We have a very dedicated team that looks at reports of misconduct. We’re constantly reviewing our systems and processes.
“In fact, even recently, we’ve had an uptick in reports of misconduct because we’ve made it easier for people to tell us about them.”
Deloitte’s statutory report to ASIC was lodged on 6 October 2025.
No action has been taken by any regulator against the former BCEL board.
Proceeds from the $30 million sale of the school to Christian Community Ministries have been used to satisfy creditors, including the Tax Office, which applied to have BCEL wound up.
