Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026
Ms ROBERTS (Pearce) (13:03): Thank you. The incorporated speech read as follows— I would like to support the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 and to speak about why this reform matters so much to communities like mine in Pearce. At its core, this bill is about fairness, but, more than that, it is about whether we genuinely believe that every young Australian should have the same chance to succeed regardless of where they grow up or what their family circumstances are.
While we often say that, in Australia, anyone can get ahead, we know that isn't always how it plays out in practice. We know that talent is spread right across this country but opportunity is not, and that gap is not abstract. It is real and it shows up in very practical ways in people's lives.
It shows up in whether a young person sees university as something that is within reach or something that is simply not for people like them. It shows up in whether families feel confident navigating the system or whether it feels confusing and out of step with their experience. And it shows up in the numbers—who gets to university and, just as importantly, who stays and finishes.
In outer metropolitan communities like Pearce, I see this every week. I meet young people who are capable, motivated and full of potential but who are weighing up decisions that go far beyond study. They are thinking about how they will afford rent, how many hours they will need to work, whether they can manage the cost of transport or whether they should put their plans on hold to support their family.
For many, they are the first in their family to consider university at all. That is something to be proud of. But it can also mean stepping into a system without a clear map, and, even when they do take that step, too many find that the hardest part is not getting in.
It is staying in. That is why this bill matters. It recognises that opening the door is only the beginning.
What matters just as much is whether people are supported once they walk through it. This legislation builds on the Australian Universities Accord, which was released in February 2024. That accord is a blueprint for higher education reform not only for the next decade but for the decade after that.
It tells us something very important: if Australia wants to meet the skill demands of the future, we need to lift the proportion of people in the workforce with a certificate, diploma or degree to around 80 per cent over the coming decades. That means more people at TAFE. It means more people at university.
And it means acting now to set our tertiary system up for the future. The Albanese Labor government has already implemented more than 30 of the accord's 47 recommendations in full or in part. That includes making HECS fairer by cutting 20 per cent of HECS debts, capping indexation at the lower of CPI and WPI, moving to a marginal repayment system and raising the minimum repayment threshold.
It includes introducing paid prac for the first time for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students. It includes doubling the number of university study hubs by establishing 20 new regional university study hubs and 14 suburban university study hubs. It includes increasing the number of free university bridging courses.
It includes introducing the National Student Ombudsman and the National Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence. It includes making demand driven Commonwealth supported places available to all First Nations students where they meet the marks to get in. And it includes establishing the Australian Tertiary Education Commission as a steward of the tertiary education system.
This bill is the next step in that reform agenda. It enacts the accord's commitment through a new funding system built around a managed growth funding system and demand driven, needs based funding. It is designed to do two things at once: grow the system to meet national demand, and better support the students who have historically been left behind.
On the first challenge—access—this bill introduces a new way of funding growth in higher education. The Universities Accord was clear that higher education funding should be planned and managed by the ATEC through mission based compacts. It was also clear that we need to increase the number of higher education students from under-represented backgrounds, while also focusing on their success once they arrive.
This bill responds to that. It will better align Commonwealth funding with enrolments, address existing issues in the funding system and help ensure the system grows in a way that reflects the needs of the country. It will also formalise the role of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission in allocating Commonwealth supported places.
That is important because it gives us a more coordinated and transparent approach to growth instead of a system where institutions are left to compete in ways that do not always serve students or the system as a whole. Most importantly, the new Managed Growth Funding System will effectively uncap the number of places for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and regional areas.
That is a major change. It means that opportunity will not be artificially limited for students who have the ability and the determination to succeed but who may not have had the same starting point as others. It means that, if you come from a background where university has not always felt like a normal option, the system will now be better designed to include you.
It is expected to deliver around 230,000 commencing domestic students at university over the next decade. That is not just a statistic. That is 230,000 individual stories. 230,000 chances for people to build a future, contribute to their communities and gain the skills our country needs.
For communities such as Pearce, that matters deeply. We are growing, we are diverse and we are full of people who want to contribute—young people who have ambition, families who want to see their children succeed, communities that are investing in their future. They are not asking for special treatment; they are asking for a fair chance, for a system that recognises their potential, supports their effort, and gives them a pathway forward.
But access is only half the story, because getting into university does not guarantee finishing it. We know that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are significantly more likely to drop out, often in their first year. Again, this is not because they lack ability.
It is because they are often managing much more than study alone. They are balancing work and classes. They are supporting families.
They are trying to cover costs that others may not even have to think about. Sometimes it is textbooks. Sometimes it is transport.
Sometimes it is the need to take on extra shifts. Sometimes it is simply feeling out of place and not knowing where to turn for help. These are the quiet barriers that can make the difference between completing a degree and walking away from it.
That is why the demand driven, needs based funding in this bill is so important. It recognises that equity is not just about giving people a chance to start. It is about giving them a fair chance to finish.
This funding will provide additional support to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, First Nations students and students studying at regional campuses. Similar to Gonski funding for schools, the more students a university has who meet the criteria, the more funding it receives to help those students participate and succeed. That support is practical and targeted.
It can go towards tutoring for students who are struggling academically. It can go towards mentoring for those navigating an unfamiliar environment. It can support scholarships and grants.
It can help universities offset the higher costs of campuses in regional and remote areas. And it can provide direct financial assistance when life throws up the unexpected. The bill sets the base equity amount at $1,535 and the base regional amount at $1,398.
That is more than double the average amount provided to universities per student last year under similar previous programs, which was as little as $600. That matters because it sends a very clear message: support is not an afterthought. It is part of the system.
And the level of funding per student will more than double next year in some cases. That is significant. It is also necessary because, if we are serious about widening access, we must also be serious about keeping people on track once they get there.
This bill also strengthens the sustainability and integrity of the system itself. It provides a framework for the ATEC to exercise its existing function to allocate international student places where the Minister for Education makes an international allocation pool determination. That is a sensible and orderly approach and one that reflects the need for better planning and stewardship across the tertiary sector.
It also makes small technical amendments to modernise information sharing between the Commonwealth Ombudsman, TEQSA and the ATEC so that those bodies can inform their work appropriately. These may sound like technical changes, but they are part of something larger. They help create a system that is more coordinated, more transparent and better able to respond to change.
This bill is not about one part of the system in isolation. It is about the whole picture. It is about access.
It is about participation. It is about success. And it is about making sure our higher education system is built for the Australia we actually live in, not the Australia of decades past.
If we believe in fairness, then opportunity must be genuinely accessible. If we believe in aspiration, then pathways must be open. And, if we believe in hard work, then effort should be rewarded with real opportunity.
This bill moves us closer to that. It does not solve every challenge in our education system, and we know there is more work ahead. But it is a meaningful and practical step.
It invests in students, it invests in universities and, most importantly, it invests in the future of the country. It widens the door of opportunity—and, just as importantly, it helps ensure that, once people walk through that door, they have the support they need to keep going. That is how we build not just a better education system but a fairer country.
I commend the bill to the House.