Establishment of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC)
Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025
House of Representatives
Senate
Assent
Topics
education access education funding education oversight higher education Indigenous affairs Indigenous education tertiary education
Introduced by: The Hon Jason Clare MP (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Jason Clare ALP
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. This is a bill to establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, the ATEC. It’s a key recommendation of the Australian Universities Accord. Before I set out the details of the bill, let me remind the House what the universities accord is about.”
Julian Leeser LIB
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 and the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission - Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. These are the bills which establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, known as ATEC. Let me say at the very outset that these bills are very troubling.”
Andrew Giles ALP
“Labor is the party of education and of training. We know the power of education and training, which transform lives and transform communities.”
“The member for Goldstein talks about the divide between this side of the chamber and that side of the chamber. Can I tell you that, when it comes to higher education, whether you are going to university to get a degree or whether you are going to TAFE to get a trade, that divide is very, very clear. Labor invests in higher education, and all the opposition has ever done is cut.”
Dr RYAN
“In 1974, Gough Whitlam made university in Australia free. In 1989, when Bob Hawke introduced our HECS-HELP system, Australia’s higher education sector remained, even then, among the most accessible in the world. It produced generations of Australians with the skills to strengthen our economy, to enrich our communities and to deepen our democracy.”
Carina Garland ALP
“In my first speech in this place, I shared how I am forever grateful for the education, the keys to the kingdom, that I received, and I acknowledged that education changes lives. It changed mine, and it does so for many Australians in our communities.”
Dai Le IND
“As the House knows, education is very important to my community in Fowler and, of course, across the country, but, for migrants and refugee communities that are in Fowler, I cannot emphasise enough how critical education is.”
“I rise today to speak in support of the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025. In establishing the Australian Tertiary Education Commission as a steward of the higher education system, the bill implements a key recommendation from the Australian Universities Accord final report of 2024.”
Anthony Chisholm ALP
“I move: That these bills be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech es read as follows— UNIVERSITIES ACCORD (AUSTRALIAN TERTIARY EDUCATION COMMISSION) BILL Mr Speaker, this is a Bill to establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission. The ATEC.”
Matt O'Sullivan LIB
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 and the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission - Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. These are the bills which establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, known as ATEC. That’s how I’ll refer to it. Let me say this from the very outset.”
Paul Scarr LIB
“I must say that the there are some deeply troubling aspects in this bill. I start at the front, in terms of the objective. The legislation proposes a national tertiary education objective that is meant to guide the ATEC in the performance of every function and exercise of every power. Let me read this objective.”
“I rise to speak in support of the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 and the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission - Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025.”
Charlotte Walker ALP
“I rise today to speak about these bills, the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 and the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission - Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. They’re about something really important: whether our university system is actually working for people, especially young people.”