Information Sharing and Allocation Powers for the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC)
Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026
House of Representatives
Senate
Assent
Topics
data sharing educational administration higher education student placements tertiary education university funding
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. On election night four years ago the Prime Minister talked about opening the doors of opportunity—the great mission of Labor governments. He said, ’I want every parent to be able to tell their child no matter where you live or where you come from, in Australia the doors of opportunity are open to us all.”
Julian Leeser LIB
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. I’ll start by saying this. I was amused to hear the minister tell me last week my own position on this bill. Apparently I oppose the bill and so does the coalition. Well, I hate to disappoint, but the minister’s wrong on that.”
Carol Berry ALP
“I am proud to speak in support of the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 because it continues the Albanese Labor government’s reforms to help build a better and fairer education system for our country. The bill’s title alludes to a statement made by the Prime Minister four years ago after Labor won government.”
“I always admire the person in Labor’s central command who writes the titles of bills before the House of Representatives. This one, the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026, is written as if you couldn’t oppose it—’opening the doors of opportunity’.”
Tom French ALP
“I rise to speak in support of the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. At its centre, this bill is about whether a kid growing up outside capital cities can look at university, TAFE or any form of tertiary education and see a real path rather than a distant idea.”
Alison Penfold NAT
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. I acknowledge the member for Moore and his time he spent in the wonderful community of Dungog. It is a terrific place and I know that the teachers and educators in that town do a wonderful job. Well done.”
Tony Pasin LIB
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to draw your attention to the state of the House. (Quorum formed) Mr MATT SMITH (Leichhardt - 11:30): I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026.”
Dai Le IND
“When I was in a refugee camp, as our family was being processed, my mum—my late mother—applied to be resettled. She came up to me, a young girl, and she said, ’I have applied to be resettled in a country called uc dai loi—Australia. It is an island.’ She said, ’The reason why I’m picking it is because I heard it has the best education system in the world.’ This was late in ’79.”
Jo Briskey ALP
“In a first-year uni lecture in February, every seat is taken, and there are people sitting on the steps. Go back to the same subject at the end of the year, and there are some gaps. Some of those gaps are because people have changed their minds, and that’s okay, but some of them are people who could not make it work. The gaps are not spread evenly.”
Dr RYAN
“Before I was elected, I was fortunate to spend part of my career in the university sector, where I saw firsthand the public good that universities deliver not only through educating the next generation of Australians but through research, innovation and engagement with the communities that they serve.”
“I rise today to speak in support of the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. There can be no argument that giving more Australians the chance to go to university and succeed is essential to meeting the nation’s future skills and economic needs.”
Kate Chaney IND
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill. Higher education changes lives. Every Australian should have the opportunity to experience the life-transforming benefits of higher education.”
“What if Australia’s next groundbreaking scientist, next innovative engineer or next inspiring teacher never even considers going to university because no-one encouraged them to or there seemed to be too many barriers?”
Andrew Wallace LNP
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. At the outset, I want to make the coalition’s position very clear. We’ve not finalised our position on this bill. It makes substantial structural changes to Australia’s higher education system. It should therefore be tested thoroughly, properly, carefully and transparently through the Senate committee process.”
Ms RYAN
“I’m pleased to have some time, in continuation, to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. This bill proposes two major reforms. The first is a managed growth funding system that better aligns university places with Australia’s future workforce needs.”
Helen Haines IND
“Higher education should open doors of opportunity for every Australian, no matter their postcode, background or bank balance. For people in regional Australia, access to education matters deeply and has long-lasting consequences.”
“Neither of my parents finished high school, and my nana-in-law, Nana Dawn, never got to start high school. What’s interesting is that sometimes you might think that these people do not value education, but I’d say that it is exactly the opposite. These people did not have access to education, and they wanted their children to make sure that they had access to good-quality education.”
Sam Birrell NAT
“I went from Dookie to Shepparton. That was my university pathway. I, too, rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. We have a bill before us that I think requires greater scrutiny and we haven’t finalised our position on this.”
“This government knows that for this country to prosper we need to harness the skills and talents of all Australians. Educational opportunities are an important part of that, ranging from an early childhood education with our three-day guarantee to fully funding public schools, fee-free TAFE and the Universities Accord.”
“The Universities Accord set worthy goals for the reform of Australia’s tertiary education sector, and this bill makes progress in some areas: an increase in the number of Commonwealth supported places overall, additional funding for disadvantaged students and more support for regional institutions. These are all very welcome changes.”
Kate Thwaites ALP
“At its heart, this bill, the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026, is about opportunity. It’s about making sure that, wherever you grow up, whatever your parents earn or whatever your postcode is, is not determining what you can achieve. We on this side know that education changes lives.”
Renee Coffey ALP
“The universities accord drew on more than 820 public submissions and set out a plan to change those figures. The Albanese Labor government has acted on more than 30 of its 47 recommendations in full or in part. We made Commonwealth supported university places demand driven for all First Nations students who meet the entry requirements.”
Allegra Spender IND
“I rise to speak to the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026.”
Shayne Neumann ALP
“I’m pleased to speak in support of the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. I am surprised to see how few speakers on this bill are from Liberal and National Party electorates in regional and rural areas.”
Zali Steggall IND
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. I support the central purpose of this bill—to give more Australians the opportunity to attend university and to give students from disadvantaged backgrounds the support they need to succeed once they get there.”
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, as Paul Keating put it—that I received and acknowledged that education changes lives. It changed mine, and it changes so many lives for people right across communities in this country.”
Sophie Scamps IND
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. Australia’s universities are among our most important national institutions. They educate the next generation of teachers, nurses, engineers, scientists and business leaders.”
Gabriel Ng ALP
“One of our core beliefs as Australians is in a fair go for all. At the heart of a fair go for all is equality of opportunity, and at the heart of equality of opportunity is education. My mum was the first in her family to go to university. She grew up in different parts of Melbourne and regional Australia, even living on Gabo Island for a while when her dad was a lighthouse keeper.”
Leon Rebello LNP
“I rise to speak to the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. I’ll just say at the outset that the coalition hasn’t finalised its position on the bill. We will refer this to a Senate committee for inquiry and report because, ultimately, we believe in evidence, and the evidence that comes through that committee will be vital for us in determining our final position.”
Ms ROBERTS
“Thank you. The incorporated speech read as follows— I would like to support the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 and to speak about why this reform matters so much to communities like mine in Pearce.”
Libby Coker ALP
“Education is one of the great equalising forces in our society. It can be life’s biggest game changer, the catalyst that changes the course of a person’s life. It can open up opportunities that once seemed out of reach. It can give a young person the skills, confidence and qualifications to build a career, support their family and contribute to community.”
“On this side of the House we believe something simple: no matter where in Australia you live or how much money your parents make, you deserve the same opportunities as your fellow Australians. This simple principle underpins the work of the Australian Labor Party and the changes that we in this government push for.”
Tim Ayres ALP
“I table a revised explanatory memorandum related to the bill and move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech read as follows— On election night four years ago the Prime Minister talked about opening the doors of opportunity. The great mission of Labor Governments.”
Matt O'Sullivan LIB
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. This is a substantial bill. It changes the way Commonwealth supported university places are allocated. It creates a new framework for controlling international student commencements, it establishes needs based funding arrangements and it gives significant new powers to the minister.”
Sarah Witty ALP
“I rise to speak in support of the National Student Ombudsman Levy Bill 2026 and the related legislation before the House. I am proud to represent Melbourne, one of the greatest education capitals of Australia. Our city is home to the finest universities in the country and institutions recognised around the world for the quality of their teaching, research and innovation.”
Mehreen Faruqi GRN
“Universities should be fee free and fully funded for teaching, learning and research. No student should live in poverty while studying or be burdened with a lifetime of debt. Higher education, like all education, should be a public good built on equity and democracy. These are the basic propositions that shouldn’t be hard to achieve in a country as wealthy as ours.”
“The Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 is an important bill and one that I’ll be supporting. But it’s also a bill that misses some of the problems affecting Australians who choose to pursue higher education. The increased funding, particularly for cohorts who have historically faced more adversity when seeking to attend university, is welcome.”
Richard Dowling ALP
“I rise to support the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. Like a lot of legislation that comes to this place, there is a fair bit of machinery underneath that title. We’re dealing with concepts like managed growth funding, needs based funding and the Australian Tertiary Education Commission. But the principle underneath it is pretty straightforward.”
David Shoebridge GRN
“I rise first of all to acknowledge the work of my colleague Senator Faruqi in this space, endorse her comments and particularly note the raft of concerns about this bill that remain unaddressed including the genuine cost-of-living crisis that we know students are facing with ever mounting HECS debt.”
Tyron Whitten PHON
“The Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 is dressed up as opening doors. What it actually does is hand the keys to Canberra. It is disheartening to see universities being asked to give up their autonomy and just as disheartening to see how many of them are eager to oblige. Until now, universities have decided how many students they would teach and in what courses.”
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. The government has presented this bill as an equity reform, and there are elements of this bill that are intended to improve access to university for students who’ve traditionally been locked out of higher education.”
Nick McKim GRN
“The name of this bill is the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. If Labor really wanted to open the doors of opportunity in the tertiary education sector in Australia, they would make university education free. They would erase all current HECS debts in this country. People might say, ’Oh, well. Here go the Greens again. You know, money doesn’t grow on trees.”
“I join my colleague in recognising the incredibly long-held positions of Senator Faruqi and her advocacy on behalf of Australian university students and Australian universities more broadly. The Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026, which we are debating today, does a couple of fundamental things.”