Bill
Education Legislation Amendment (Up-front Payments Tuition Protection) Bill 2020
passed, as at 2020-11-20. Education, Skills and Employment portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Education, Skills and Employment
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2020-08-26
- second reading — 2020-08-26
- second reading — 2020-10-20
- second reading — 2020-10-21
- second reading — 2020-11-09
- second reading — 2020-11-09
- third reading — 2020-11-09
- introduced — 2020-11-10
- second reading — 2020-11-10
- second reading — 2020-11-12
- second reading — 2020-11-12
- third reading — 2020-11-12
- passed — 2020-11-12
- royal assent — 2020-11-20
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2020-08-26.
This bill would extend the Australian Government's Tuition Protection Service to cover domestic students who pay their higher education fees up-front at private providers.
It would rename existing bodies and funds to cover both up-front and HELP-assisted students, require private providers to pay annual levies based on their size and risk, and impose new registration conditions and obligations on providers in case of default.
The new arrangements would start on 1 January 2021 and would not apply to public universities, TAFEs, or government-funded providers.
- Renames the 'HELP Tuition Protection Director' to 'Higher Education Tuition Protection Director' and the 'HELP Tuition Protection Fund Advisory Board' to 'Higher Education Tuition Protection Fund Advisory Board'.
- Requires private higher education providers to contribute annual levies under the Levy Bill.
- Imposes a new condition of registration on providers to comply with tuition protection requirements, including record-keeping and information provision.
- Allows the Minister to make Up-front Payments Guidelines.
- Provides affected students with a choice between a replacement course or a refund of up-front fees.
- Imposes obligations on defaulting providers to notify the Tuition Protection Director and students, and on replacement providers to enrol students promptly and not charge for replacement units.
Domestic up-front fee paying students at private higher education providers, and the private providers themselves.
Sources
em
billhome
frl act