Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (10:05): I move: (1) Schedule 1, item 2, page 9 (line 27), at the end of subsection 30-45(1), add: ; (d) student demand. The Greens have worked really hard with Minister Clare's office on this bill and have made this bill much better than it was with the 13 amendments that have been agreed to by the government, which we have pushed.

The bill is now focused on student needs and student choice much more than it was before, and it allows much less intervention now by the minister than it did before—and that is a good thing. The amendments that the government has agreed to have been amendments that unis and students and their unions have really wanted, and that is the reason we have worked so hard to make them happen.

We have an agreement now with the government. This particular amendment goes to student demand. As the bill originally was, nothing required the minister or ATEC to consider student demand when making allocation decisions.

For a bill that is supposedly all about growth, for ATEC to not even turn its mind to or consider student demand is quite absurd. You cannot force students to attend institutions chosen by the minister or ATEC. They simply won't go.

This amendment ensures that ATEC must consider the demand from students when making allocations. Without this amendment, student choice would have been sidelined in the managed growth system, with the government attempting to shift students around in order to fill funding gaps that their own policies have created. Higher education should be staff- and student-led, not led by the minister or ATEC-led, and I'm pleased that the government will support the Greens amendment.