Bill
Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026
before parliament, as at 2026-09-17. Education portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Education
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2026-06-25
- second reading — 2026-06-25
- second reading — 2026-07-02
- second reading — 2026-08-13
- second reading — 2026-08-17
- second reading — 2026-08-19
- second reading — 2026-08-19
- committee — 2026-08-20
- third reading — 2026-08-20
- introduced — 2026-09-07
- second reading — 2026-09-07
- second reading — 2026-09-15
- second reading — 2026-09-16
- second reading — 2026-09-17
Divisions
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2026-06-25.
This bill overhauls how the government pays for university places, steering funds toward students who have historically missed out on higher education.
The Australian Tertiary Education Commission would hand out Commonwealth-supported places to universities using a new managed-growth pot, and extra needs-based grants would go to institutions enrolling disadvantaged learners.
The bill backs this with $2.5 billion in new government money and is expected to add 200,000 first-year domestic students over the next ten years.
- The bill creates a Managed Growth Funding System for Commonwealth-supported places.
- It sets up Needs-based Funding grants for universities that enroll students from poorer families, Indigenous students, and those at regional campuses.
- It gives the Australian Tertiary Education Commission the job of allocating those places and international student places when the minister decides.
- It lets the minister set rules for how international student places are handed out.
- It changes information-sharing laws so the commission can get data from the Ombudsman and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.
Universities and higher education providers, along with students from low-income, Indigenous, and regional or remote backgrounds, plus international students when the government manages their numbers.
Sources
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