Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026

Ms CLUTTERHAM (Sturt) (12:45): I rise today to speak in support of the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. There can be no argument that giving more Australians the chance to go to university and succeed is essential to meeting the nation's future skills and economic needs. Backgrounds, postcodes and bank balances cannot stand in the way of more Australians going to university to attain a higher education degree, to allow them to participate in the critical nation building endeavours our country needs to embark on, to ensure a secure, sustainable and prosperous future, to allow us to compete in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, to enable us to innovate and enjoy the benefits of targeted research and development and to ensure that our national security is properly prosecuted.

Australia needs more university educated workers, not fewer. More opportunity is good for students, good for their families, good for communities, good for the economy and good for our country. The Australian Universities Accord made it clear that, if Australia is to prosper in the years ahead, we must grow Australia's participation, performance and investment in tertiary education so we can generate the knowledge, skills and research our nation needs.

The final report recommended that the tertiary attainment rate of all working age people with at least one certificate III qualification or higher be lifted from 60 per cent currently to at least 80 per cent by 2050. It also recommended increasing the proportion of university educated Australians aged 25 to 34 from 45 per cent currently to 55 per cent by 2050.

In making these recommendations, the final report noted that the tertiary system will need to more than double the number of Commonwealth supported students in universities from 860,000 currently to 1.8 million by 2050. As well as increasing the number of skilled workers in our country ready to contribute to our economy and our communities, higher education provides many other essential benefits to Australian society.

By encouraging intellectual endeavour, creativity and personal accomplishment, universities also promote democracy, critical thinking, debate, the embrace of different perspectives and the fostering of civic values. A university degree can also lead to expanded professional and personal networks, more defined career goals and, of course, employment. Further, the world faces a host of challenges ranging from economic inequality to climate change and geopolitical conflict to ongoing wars, and universities and graduates play a key role in helping to address some of these challenges.

Given these benefits, creating accessible educational opportunities for students of all postcodes, backgrounds and bank balances to develop responsive skills is critical for a vibrant future workforce, for responding to challenges through innovation and for ensuring our communities are resilient. Universities also encourage critical thinking and the consideration of different perspectives.

You might not agree with a particular perspective that is being put, but you must consider it. You may dismiss it, but you've heard it and you've thought about why you might be dismissing it. You don't just accept it.

You evaluate it, check it, challenge it and develop your own independent view on it. And you're actively encouraged to do this. You know that, if you don't, you might have missed something or you might be misinformed or disinformed.

And we know that misinformation and disinformation, either deliberate or by virtue of laziness, are one of the biggest dangers facing our country, because they draw on inaccurate or incomplete information, depriving the information consumer of the facts and distorting the decisions that the consumer of the information might then make. People who have been taught to think critically, to assess and challenge information, to not simply agree with the first thing that is said to them and to not simply accept the contentions of those who shout the loudest are better placed.

The overarching negative effect of misinformation is that, without an accurately informed public, democracy cannot function. Again, you might not agree with the information, but if it is accurate—based on facts, data and evidence—you can at least make your next decision and make your choice with the comfort of knowing that you had the relevant information you needed.

We know that misinformation and disinformation create division. They create polarisation. And sometimes misinformation or disinformation based on rumour, gossip or a malicious agenda can have devastating consequences: disengagement with democratic processes, hostility to political figures, and violence.

Disinformation has a competitive advantage over accurate information in the attention economy, because it is not constrained by the truth. The effort required is minimal, and the digitisation of media and the explosion of social media has also enabled producers of misinformation and disinformation to access sophisticated and extremely convincing tools of digital forgery, such as deepfakes, the digital alteration of an image or video that convincingly replaces the voice, face or body of one individual with that of another.

That's not just a tech problem or a communications issue. It's a crisis of trust. Tackling this means protecting communities from harm while upholding freedom of expression and other human rights.

Freedom of expression and other human rights need to be protected at the same time as countering disinformation because of its capacity to unravel the threads that hold societies together. In settings with increased instability it can tip societies into violence. It can also corrode the norms of debate and science-backed evidence that societies have typically taken for granted.

Countering this is difficult, because the monumental challenge facing us is structural. The information ecosystem simply was not designed with truth or safety as its key features. It was designed for engagement, which comes in many forms, including hate.

Well-developed critical thinking skills by virtue of a university degree can play a key role in countering these challenges, because these skills allow one to assess the strength and appropriateness of the information being presented through questioning, examining and evaluating different positions. These skills are not just useful with respect to misinformation and disinformation.

Questioning, challenging and evaluating have a place in every profession. It was my full-time job, in my pre-politics career as a lawyer. Doctors, nurses and engineers do it all day.

Goodness knows, teachers do it all day, as well as mechanics, plumbers, electricians and business owners. The ability to challenge, evaluate, question and go beyond the algorithm is fundamental to the success of our economy, our community and our liberal democracy. Universities that produce graduates with a thirst for knowledge, a thirst for facts, a love of learning, a determination or arm themselves with the evidence they need to justify a decision they are working towards reduces the impact misinformation has on our democracy.

I'm not saying that it is only those with a university degree who can counter misinformation because, with effort, we all can, but we know that universities arm students with the tools to do this, and the more people who are armed with a desire for facts and accuracy, the better. This bill will see additional funding to the tune of $3.6 billion invested into the tertiary sector over the next decade to increase the number of students at university and to meet Australia's future skills needs.

It does this through a new managed growth funding system and demand driven needs based funding to support students from underrepresented backgrounds to access and succeed at university. The estimated impact of these changes is that there will be an extra 230,000 domestic students commencing study over the next decade, getting those crucial critical thinking skills, developing the capacity to examine different perspectives and to reach an informed and evidence based view.

This can only be a good thing for our democracy and our communities. Labor is the party of education. We know that education lifts people out of poverty and gives people an opportunity: an opportunity to contribute to their communities, to do something for their families and to do something for themselves.

We know that opportunities like this should not be limited to those with means or those who live in metropolitan areas. Everyone should have this opportunity. To be pro-education is to be pro-business, pro-private-sector, pro-public-sector, pro-productivity and pro-economic-prosperity because, without an educated population, you don't have any of those things.

This bill, which opens the doors of educational opportunity to a more diverse range of people, is not the only step that the Albanese Labor government has taken to ensure education is accessible and affordable. I will never forget 3 November 2024 and being in the Norwood International High School in my electorate of Sturt when the Prime Minister announced that a re-elected Albanese Labor government would make HECS better and fairer by cutting 20 per cent off of HECS debts.

We have delivered that. That is in addition to the indexation of HECS debts, moving to a marginal repayment system and raising the minimum repayment threshold. People should not be put in a position where they decide they will not go to university because it will be too hard to pay off the corresponding debt.

People should not be put in a position where they decide not to study for teaching, nursing and midwifery degrees because they cannot afford to take time off to complete the practical component of their degree. Paid prac is a delivered Albanese Labor government policy of which I am particularly proud. I completed a Master of Teaching and Secondary Education about a decade ago as a mature-age student who was able to take a combination of unpaid and paid leave from my employment to complete the prac.

The unpaid portion hit even though I was in my late 30s. Imagine being a young student in your early 20s living out of home and being asked to give up your income for weeks at a time so you can complete a degree in a critical industry. Paid prac is meaningful change and meaningful action to ensure that students who want to can enrol to study to become teachers, nurses and midwives—and now, significantly, additional allied health professions.

This bill represents the seventh accord bill that the Minister for Education has introduced. There were 47 recommendations in the Australian universities accord, and, with the passage of this bill, the Albanese Labor government will have implemented 36 in full or in part. Prompt yet careful progress is being made as the Albanese Labor government seeks to shore up our tertiary education sector so that it's primed to deliver the skilled workforce Australia needs to advance its national security and economic prosperity and contribute to a Future Made in Australia.

I commend the bill to the House.