Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026

Ms PAYNE (Canberra) (17:41): I rise today in support of the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. This bill is the next step in the Albanese Labor government's ambition for an educated Australia. We're putting in place the necessary reforms to set our tertiary education system up to deliver on Australia's future skills needs.

These reforms are practical, they're funded and they are long overdue. In February 2024, the government released the final report of the Australian Universities Accord. The accord provides the blueprint for higher education reform over the next 20 years.

At the heart of the accord is an ambitious goal: that, by 2050, 80 per cent of Australia's workforce will hold a certificate, diploma or degree. It's a big target, and it's meant to be, because meeting Australia's future skills needs in the decades ahead means having more students at TAFE and more people at university. But the only way to achieve this is by breaking down the barriers that stop so many young people from getting to university.

Talent is everywhere; it's opportunity that's not. Canberra is a university town, home to more universities than any other electorate in Australia. We've got the Australian National University, the University of Canberra, and campuses of the University of New South Wales, the Australian Catholic University and Charles Sturt University within my electorate.

And we are not standing still: the University of New South Wales is also currently constructing their new Reid campus, near the Civic CBD, which is slated for completion in 2028. The Canberra electorate is highly educated, with around 66,000 residents—or 53 per cent—having a bachelor's degree or higher. A further 8,200 residents, or nearly seven per cent, have a certificate level III or IV qualification.

The education and training sector is the third biggest employer in my electorate, providing jobs for over 8,600 residents, and, as at the 2021 census, my constituents included over 21,800 tertiary students. Even so, there is some way to go and still plenty of work to do before my electorate—and Australia—reaches the accord's important 2050 goal. Since 2024, the Albanese Labor government has already implemented more than 30 of the accord's 47 recommendations in full or in part.

We have made HECS better and fairer by cutting 20 per cent off HECS debts, capping indexation of HECS debts to the lower of the consumer price index and the wage price index, moving to a marginal repayment system and raising the minimum repayment threshold. These reforms mean that graduates keep more of their pay before their loan repayments even begin. We've also introduced paid prac for the first time, for teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students.

This has been done in recognition of the fact that unpaid placements have, for too long, locked out students who cannot afford to work for free while completing the very training this country needs them to complete. Recently, we have expanded this excellent scheme to pharmacy and allied health students. I was really pleased to have the opportunity to speak with many of these students at the recent market day at the University of Canberra about what it was going to mean for them and how much easier it would make it for them to take on those prac placements and also to, as one student put it, be more adventurous in the opportunities that they took up through those placements.

We have also doubled the number of university study hubs by establishing 20 new regional university study hubs and 14 suburban university study hubs. University study hubs break down barriers to tertiary study by making it easier for students to access learning resources and support services, engage with other students and succeed in their higher education journey.

We have increased the number of free university bridging courses, giving people a genuine second chance to gain entry to a university and gain tertiary qualifications. We've introduced the National Student Ombudsman and a national code to prevent and respond to gender based violence, because a university education should never come at the cost of a student's safety.

We have established the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, ATEC, as the steward of the entire tertiary education system, giving our country, for the first time, an organisation whose sole purpose is to plan for Australia's future skill needs. As the Minister for Education has said, this bill implements two more key changes recommended by the accord. The accord recommended the adoption of a new funding model for higher education, one planned and managed by ATEC through mission based compacts with individual institutions.

It also recommended increasing the number of higher education students from underrepresented backgrounds, matched by a genuine focus on the success of those students, not merely their enrolment. This bill will help more people from financially disadvantaged families, the regions and the bush to get into university. In simple terms, if you get the marks and you've got what it takes, you will get a place—a Commonwealth supported place.

In other words, places for these students will effectively now be uncapped. It also formalises the role of ATEC in allocating Commonwealth supported places for higher education courses to higher education providers and to international student places where the minister makes a determination. The bill will see an additional $3.6 billion of Australian government investment in the higher education funding system over the next 10 years.

This will increase the number of students at university to meet Australia's future skills needs. There is still work to do, however. Because of the unique nature of the ACT, there is not a single postcode that is currently classified as being of low socioeconomic status.

This is because we have a mixture of housing types in each and every suburb, with most suburbs including public housing. This is one of the things that make our city such an inclusive place and a wonderful place to live. But, with our relatively high average incomes and low unemployment, the ACT is also a really difficult place to be on a lower income or to be poor.

It is not the case that disadvantage and these challenges don't exist in our city—they absolutely do—but, with the way the data currently classifies suburbs and postcodes, this does not show up. This, in turn, disadvantages our universities in the way that funding is allocated to them. I have raised this issue with the minister, and I'm hoping that we might be able to address this issue.

I'll continue to advocate for my community to ensure that people in the ACT, particularly in my electorate, are not disadvantaged by these rules and that our universities can continue to build on their important role in educating students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. I also want to take this opportunity to speak about the disastrous Jobs-ready Graduates Package introduced by the Morrison government, which is encumbering university students with enormous levels of debt and discouraging students from taking on a range of really important degrees, including those in the humanities.

When I attended university with the assistance of HECS and paid it back, it was, in hindsight, a relatively modest debt to the government, and it was paid back relatively quickly. It wasn't a huge impost on my life or the lives of those that had these debts at that time. Now, students come to me telling us their stories of absolutely enormous debts and the impact this is having on them as they finish their degrees, move into the workforce and try to plan for other things that they might want to be doing, like investing in a home, starting a family et cetera.

It was never the intention of the HECS to be like that, and I hope that this is something that our government can address as soon as possible. The sooner we get rid of that job-ready graduates program, the better it will be for young Australians and those wanting to take on a university education. Whenever I talk about breaking down the barriers for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to get into university, I think it's important that we don't ignore the costs of living that students face, particularly when they move from a regional area or a remote area to a capital city like Canberra, where things are expensive—rent and food.

And this is actually a great barrier that people face. I think that it would be great if we could look at the Youth Allowance payment and have a bit of a rethink about that as to how it can be a more meaningful support to young people who are trying to live away from home a lot of the time—or even those living at home; it doesn't mean that it's not a huge cost for them and their families to support them through that.

I think that this is one of the barriers that also need to be looked at for young people, if we really want to get more people having access to tertiary education. Under Labor, there are more Australians at university today than we have ever had before, and it is going to continue to grow. Next year, there will be 16,000 more places for more students in the system.

Another 16,000 places will be added each year in 2028 and 2029, and in 2030 this will increase to 19,000 additional fully funded Commonwealth supported places. Our changes are expected to result in an extra 230,000 commencing domestic students at university over the next decade. This is a wonderful thing.

In particular, this bill will support more students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, First Nations students and students studying at regional campuses to participate and, importantly, to succeed at university. As the CEO of Universities Australia, Luke Sheehy said: "Australia needs more university-educated workers, not fewer … "That means opening the door to university for more Australians, no matter their postcode, background or bank balance.

"More opportunity is good for students, good for communities and good for the economy. … … … "This bill represents a major change to how student places are funded, allocated and supported. The ambition is right … The bill enacts our government's commitment to the accord through a new funding system. It will embed a new managed-growth funding system and establish demand driven, needs based funding to support students from underrepresented backgrounds to access and succeed at university.

We'll also formalise the role of the ATEC in allocating Commonwealth supported places. The new managed-growth funding system will effectively uncap the number of places for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in regional areas. The new system will address existing issues in the higher education funding system and will better align Commonwealth funding with enrolments.

Higher education providers will be supported to transition to the new funding system. Similar to Gonski funding for schools, the more students a university has that meet the criteria, the more funding they will receive to help these students to participate and succeed at university. And this is why it's important that the particular situation of the ACT is able to be accounted for in that funding model.

This bill sets the base equity amount at $1,535 and the base regional amount at $1,398. This is more than two times the average amount provided to universities per student last year, which was as little as $600 under similar previous programs. Universities will be able to direct this extra funding towards things like tutoring, mentoring and other academic supports; direct financial assistance such as scholarships and grants; and offsetting the higher costs of campuses in regional and remote areas.

This bill does not stand alone. It builds on a substantial suite of reforms this government has already delivered. Labor is investing in education at every stage of life, helping Australians learn, gain skills and succeed.

We have put in place a three-day guarantee for early education. The historic Better and Fairer Schools Agreement is the biggest new investment by an Australian government in public education ever, the first time that all of our public schools have been fully funded to the Schooling Resource Standard. That is an incredible achievement and one I talk about at every opportunity.

Education is so critical to Australia's future in a global economy, which is why this bill is so important. It will mean more Australians from every background and from every part of our country getting the chance to study at TAFE and at university and succeeding once they get there. Labor is the party of education.

Labor is the party of opportunity. Labor is putting in place the necessary reforms to future-proof Australia's tertiary education sector, and I commend the bill to the House.