Fit and Proper Person Requirements — Practice Guide¶
ASQA Practice Guide · Compliance Standards · Standards CS Sch 1 · Published 17 June 2025 · Version 1.0
Verbatim reproduction of the ASQA Practice Guide, extracted from the source PDF with layout preservation (via
pdftotext -layout). The body below preserves the original two-column table structure — performance indicators on the left, example activities and known risks on the right.Source: https://www.asqa.gov.au/for-providers/standards-for-RTOs/practice-guides
Companion docs: -
standards-outcome.md/standards-compliance.md— the underlying legislative text -standards-explanatory.md— the Explanatory Statement commentary -compliance-reference.md— RTOpacks module × standard mapping
Practice Guide
Fit and Proper Person Requirements
Ver 1.0
Published 17 June 2025
Compliance Standards for NVR Registered Training Organisations –
Schedule 1 – Fit and Proper Person Requirements
What are the key concepts?
The following key concepts are covered in this practice guide:
Fit and Proper Person Requirements
• Application of Fit and Proper Person • Financial record
Requirements • Provision of information
• Compliance with law • Previous conduct and involvements
• Management history • Additional considerations
Achieving the Requirements in practice
The following table provides guidance on meeting the Fit and Proper Person Requirements (FPPRs), as
well as risks to mitigate or avoid. These should be considered within the context, size, and scale of your
organisation.
Requirement Example activities and other considerations for
compliance
1. Application of Fit and Proper Person • You recognise the Fit and Proper Person
Requirements Requirements (FPPRs) as a positive obligation
upon your RTO requiring active and ongoing
The National VET Regulator must have regard to education and monitoring of your staff, especially
all matters it considers relevant that are specified your governing persons.
in this Schedule when determining whether: • You can demonstrate the due diligence you
a. an NVR registered training organisation; undertake to assure yourself that your RTO staff
b. a governing person of an NVR registered are fit and proper in respect of the public being
training organisation; able to have confidence in their suitability to be
involved in VET delivery - for example, referee
c. a person applying to become an NVR checks, police checks.
registered training organisation; or
o Where you have third party arrangements in
d. a governing person of a person applying to place, you apply this due diligence to staff
become an NVR registered training delivering VET on your RTO’s behalf.
organisation,
• You ensure that your RTO’s governing persons
is, or would be, a fit and proper person for the submit a full and frank Fit and Proper Person
purposes of registration, renewing registration, or Declaration to ASQA upon commencement and
maintaining registration as an NVR registered at any other time when there is a change in
training organisation under the Act. circumstance that may impact upon their fitness
and propriety.
• You have evidence demonstrating how you
Note: This section does not limit the types of persons which educate your RTO’s governing persons on the
the National VET Regulator may have regard to when
undertaking a fit and proper person assessment. FPPRs, and the legal obligation on them to
declare a change in circumstance where
2. Compliance with law relevant. This includes declaring all legal matters
• Regardless of whether a conviction has been that the governing person is involved in
recorded, the National VET Regulator may regardless of:
have regard to whether the person has been o the seriousness of the matter
found guilty of an offence against, or ordered o whether the matter is resolved or ongoing
to pay a pecuniary penalty under, a law of the
o in the case of a legal charge, whether it
Commonwealth or a State or Territory.
resulted in a conviction being recorded or not
• The National VET Regulator may have regard o whether the matter is being appealed
to the seriousness of, and the time elapsed
since the offence, conviction, or matter to o whether the matter relates to an overseas
which the pecuniary penalty relates occurred. jurisdiction.
• The National VET Regulator may have regard • Where a disclosure made by a governing person
raises concerns, you retain documentation on
to whether the person is currently involved in
your assessment of this information, and how
proceedings before a court or tribunal.
you determined the person’s suitability or
• The National VET Regulator may have regard unsuitability as a governing person under the
to whether the person has been found guilty FPPRs.
of a foreign offence (within the meaning of
section 85ZL of the Crimes Act 1914). Known risks to compliance
3. Management history • Failing to adopt governance structures,
processes and procedures that ensure your RTO
• The National VET Regulator may have regard staff are, and remain, fit and proper in respect of
to whether one or more of the following has their particular roles in VET delivery.
been cancelled, revoked, suspended or
rejected: • Failing to understand the due diligence practices
used by your third parties relating to the integrity
a. the person’s registration as an NVR of staff delivering VET on your RTO’s behalf.
registered training organisation;
• Failing to identify all of your RTO’s governing
b. the person’s application for registration or persons to whom the Fit and Proper Person
renewal of registration as an NVR Declaration applies – i.e. all people responsible
registered training organisation; for overseeing, directing or exercising a degree
c. the person’s approval as an approved of control or influence over the management or
course provider (within the meaning of the operation of your RTO.
VET Student Loans Act 2016) or VET • Not adequately assessing any issues declared by
provider (within the meaning of the Higher a governing person in respect of whether the
Education Support Act 2003); public is likely to have confidence in the person's
d. subsidy funding arrangements with a suitability to be involved in the management or
State or Territory for the provision of operation of the RTO.
education services by the person. • Not considering conflicts of interest as part of
• The National VET Regulator may have regard your assessment of a governing person’s fitness
to whether the person has: and propriety for your RTO.
a. breached a condition of registration as an • Failing to retain copies of Fit and Proper Person
NVR registered training organisation; or Declarations submitted to ASQA by your
governing persons.
b. had a condition imposed by way of
sanction on a registration, approval or • Failing to ensure a governing person submits an
updated Declaration to ASQA because they
arrangement mentioned in subsection (1)
dismiss an issue as minor – for example, a guilty
and has breached such a condition.
verdict that did not result in a conviction being
• The National VET Regulator may have regard recorded being dismissed as ‘only a fine'.
to whether the person has ever been a
manager or director of a registered higher
education provider (within the meaning of the
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards
Agency Act 2011) or registered provider
(within the meaning of the Education Services
for Overseas Students Act 2000) during a
period in which the registered higher
education provider or registered provider was
determined to have breached a condition of
its registration under the:
a. Education Services for Overseas
Students Act 2000; or
b. Tertiary Education Quality and Standards
Agency Act 2011.
• The National VET Regulator may have regard
to whether the person has ever been
involved:
a. in the business of delivering courses or
other services on behalf of a person that
was the subject of regulatory action
described in subsections (1), (2) or (3); or
b. with an entity at the time that entity was
found to have breached a government
training contract.
• The National VET Regulator may have regard
to whether the person has been disqualified
from managing corporations under Part 2D.6
of the Corporations Act 2001.
4. Financial record
• The National VET Regulator may have regard
to whether the person has:
a. been insolvent or bankrupt;
b. taken steps to take the benefit of any law
for the relief of bankrupt or insolvent
debtors;
c. compounded with one or more creditors;
d. assigned remuneration for the benefit of
one or more creditors;
e. been under external administration (within
the meaning of subsection 600H(2) of the
Corporations Act 2001); or
f. outstanding debts to the Commonwealth.
5. Provision of information
• The National VET Regulator may have regard
to whether the person has provided false or
misleading information to any of the following
in circumstances where it is reasonable to
assume the person knew the information was
false or misleading:
a. a VET Regulator;
b. the Tertiary Education Quality and
Standards Agency;
c. the TPS Director (within the meaning of
the Education Services for Overseas
Students Act 2000), including in the TPS
Director’s capacity as the VSL Tuition
Protection Director under the VET
Student Loans Act 2016 and the Higher
Education Tuition Protection Director
under the Higher Education Support Act
2003;
d. the Minister, the Department or the
Secretary; or
e. an authority of a State or Territory that
deals with subsidy funding arrangements
for education.
6. Previous conduct and involvements
• The National VET Regulator may have regard
to whether the person has previously been
found not to be a fit and proper person for the
purposes of one or more of the following:
a. the Act;
b. the Australian Education Act 2013;
c. the Education Services for Overseas
Students Act 2000;
d. the Higher Education Support Act 2003;
e. the Tertiary Education Quality and
Standards Agency Act 2011;
f. the VET Student Loans Act 2016;
g. subsidy funding arrangements with a
State or Territory for the provision of
education; or
h. any other law of the Commonwealth or of
a State or Territory.
• The National VET Regulator may have regard
to whether the person has previously
engaged in conduct that reasonably suggests
a deliberate pattern of unethical behaviour.
• The National VET Regulator may have regard
to any other matter relating to a person’s
previous conduct or involvement that the
Regulator considers relevant.
7. Additional considerations
• The National VET Regulator may have regard
to whether the public is unlikely to have
confidence in the person's suitability to be
involved in an organisation that provides,
assesses or issues nationally recognised
qualifications.
Self-assurance questions
1 How do you ensure that you have identified all the governing persons in your RTO to whom the Fit
and Proper Person Requirements apply?
2 What due diligence do you do during your routine recruitment and performance management of your
RTO staff to ensure that they are fit and proper for their role?
3 What escalation process do you have in place for assessing information/circumstances where one
of your governing persons may no longer meet the FPPRs? What action would you take, and how
would you report this to ASQA?
4 What education do you with your staff regarding their obligation to report concerns over the fitness
or propriety of a colleague? What information do you make available within your RTO about ASQA’s
Tip-Off Line?
Source: ASQA Practice Guide — Fit and Proper Person Requirements. Published 17 June 2025, Version 1.0. Authority: Australian Skills Quality Authority. These guides interpret the Standards for RTOs 2025 into practical compliance guidance. The PDF was extracted with pdftotext -layout to preserve the two-column table structure of the original document.