{"id":"C1973A00097","name":"States Grants (Universities) Act 1973","slug":"states-grants-universities-act-1973","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"97 of 1973","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":2559,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1973A00097-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-29","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"States Grants (Universities) Act 1973","content":"States Grants (Universities) Act 1973\n\nNo. 97 of 1973\n\nAN ACT\n\nTo Grant Financial Assistance to the States for the purpose of Assistance to Students in Need at Universities in the Year 1973.\n\n\\[Assented to 10 September 1973\\]\n\nBE IT ENACTED by the Queen, the Senate and the House of Representatives of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title and citation.\n\n1. (1) This Act may be cited as the States Grants (Universities) Act 1973.\n\n(2) The States Grants (Universities) Act (No. 2) 1972 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.\n\n(3) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the States Grants (Universities) Act 1972–1973.\n\nCommencement.\n\n2. This Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on 17th June, 1973.\n\n  \n\n3. After section 11 of the Principal Act the following section is inserted:—\n\nGrants for assistance to students in need.\n\n“11a. (1) In relation to each University specified in the Eighth Schedule there is payable, in the year that commenced on 1st January, 1973, to the State in which the University is situated, for the purpose of financial assistance, the amount specified in the second column of the Eighth Schedule opposite to the name of that University.\n\n“(2) The financial assistance to a State by way of payment of an amount under this section in relation to a University is granted on the conditions that—\n\n(a) the State will, without undue delay, pay that amount to the University;\n\n(b) the State will ensure that the amount so paid to the University is applied by the University towards assisting students in need; and\n\n(c) the State will, as a condition of the payment to the University, require the University to furnish annually to the Commission statistics and information in respect of the application of the amount by the University.\n\n“(3) In this section, ‘student in need’ means a student enrolled at a University specified in the Eighth Schedule who is determined by that University to be experiencing hardship by reason of his financial circumstances.”.\n\nEighth Schedule.\n\n4. The Principal Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following Schedule:—\n\nEIGHTH SCHEDULE Section 11a\n\nGrants for Assistance to Students in Need in the Year 1973\n\n| First column                                                  | Second column   |\n| ------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------- |\n| University                                                    | Amount of Grant |\n| New South Wales—                                              | $               |\n| University of Sydney..................................        | 359,000         |\n| University of New South Wales...........................      | 277,050         |\n| University of New England..............................       | 63,000          |\n| University of Newcastle................................       | 56,000          |\n| Macquarie University.................................         | 81,000          |\n| Wollongong University College...........................      | 20,000          |\n| Victoria—                                                     |                 |\n| University of Melbourne...............................        | 273,000         |\n| Monash University...................................          | 231,000         |\n| La Trobe University..................................         | 82,000          |\n| Queensland—                                                   |                 |\n| University of Queensland...............................       | 220,000         |\n| James Cook University of North Queensland..................   | 25,000          |\n| South Australia—                                              |                 |\n| University of Adelaide.................................       | 146,000         |\n| Flinders University of South Australia....................... | 54,000          |\n| Western Australia—                                            |                 |\n| University of Western Australia...........................    | 147,000         |\n| Tasmania—                                                     |                 |\n| University of Tasmania................................        | 62,000          |\n|                                                               | 2,096,000       |","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 2","severity":"high","reasoning":"Section 2 deems the Act to have commenced on 17 June 1973, yet it received Royal Assent on 10 September 1973. This means the Act purports to impose legally binding obligations on States and Universities — including requirements to pay funds, apply them to students in need, and furnish statistics — for a period during which the Act did not yet exist. The conditions in s.11A(2) (promptly paying universities, ensuring funds are applied correctly, requiring annual statistics) would have had to be complied with retroactively, which is practically and logically impossible. A State cannot have been bound by a condition that had no legal existence at the time the relevant conduct was required.","confidence":0.97,"description":"The Act was assented to on 10 September 1973 but is deemed to have come into operation on 17 June 1973 — nearly three months before it legally existed."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Section 3 / s.11A(2)(c)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Section 11A(1) limits the grant to 'the year that commenced on 1st January, 1973' — a single, defined year. Yet s.11A(2)(c) requires the University to 'furnish annually to the Commission statistics and information in respect of the application of the amount.' The word 'annually' implies a recurring, indefinite obligation, yet there is only ever one amount paid for one year. After the first annual report, there is nothing further to report, yet the word 'annually' technically mandates perpetual reporting. This creates an absurd ongoing compliance obligation attached to a concluded, one-time transaction.","confidence":0.82,"description":"Universities are required to 'furnish annually' statistics in respect of a one-off, single-year grant, creating a perpetual ongoing reporting obligation for a payment that occurs only once."},{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 3 / s.11A(3)","severity":"low","reasoning":"A 'student in need' is defined as a student 'determined by that University to be experiencing hardship by reason of his financial circumstances.' The definition delegates the entire substantive content of the term to each individual university's discretion. There is no legislative standard of 'hardship' or 'financial circumstances' against which a university's determination could be tested. In effect, a student is in need if the university says so, and the university can say so on any basis it likes. This is not strictly circular in the classic sense, but it creates a vacuous definition that provides no meaningful constraint, making the condition in s.11A(2)(b) essentially unenforceable.","confidence":0.78,"description":"The definition of 'student in need' is partially circular: it defines the term by reference to a determination made by 'that University,' but provides no objective criteria, meaning the University both sets and applies its own standard with no external check."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 1(2) and Section 1(3)","severity":"low","reasoning":"By designating the (No. 2) 1972 Act as the Principal Act and then creating an amalgamated citation, the Act implies a legislative lineage that skips the (No. 1) 1972 Act entirely. Any reader or court tracing the legislative history via the combined citation 'States Grants (Universities) Act 1972–1973' would be directed to only one of two 1972 Acts, potentially missing relevant provisions from the (No. 1) 1972 Act. This is a low-severity drafting oddity but a genuine source of ambiguity.","confidence":0.65,"description":"The Act refers to and amends the 'States Grants (Universities) Act (No. 2) 1972' but simultaneously creates a new combined citation 'States Grants (Universities) Act 1972–1973,' which could cause citation confusion as there is also presumably a 'No. 1' 1972 Act that is not the Principal Act."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 2 (commencement: 17 June 1973)","section_b":"Section 3 / s.11A(1) (grants payable 'in the year that commenced on 1st January, 1973')","confidence":0.93,"description":"The grant is expressed as payable across the entirety of the 1973 calendar year beginning 1 January 1973, yet the Act itself — even with its backdated commencement of 17 June 1973 — postdates roughly half of that grant year. The legal authority to make payments for the period 1 January to 16 June 1973 is created only after that period has already elapsed, making it impossible for the conditions in s.11A(2) (including 'without undue delay') to have been met during that earlier period."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 3 / s.11A(1) (payment is for 'the year that commenced on 1st January, 1973' — a single year)","section_b":"Section 3 / s.11A(2)(c) (University must 'furnish annually' statistics)","confidence":0.8,"description":"Section 11A(1) establishes a single, time-limited payment for the 1973 year only, while s.11A(2)(c) imposes an annually recurring reporting obligation on the application of that amount. A one-off payment cannot logically generate an indefinitely recurring reporting duty — after the first report, the funds will have been fully applied and there is nothing left to report on annually."},{"severity":"high","section_a":"Section 3 / s.11A(2)(a) ('without undue delay')","section_b":"Section 2 (retrospective commencement on 17 June 1973)","confidence":0.91,"description":"The condition that States pay universities 'without undue delay' is rendered contradictory by the Act's retrospective commencement. For any payments that should have been made between 17 June 1973 and 10 September 1973 (the assent date), States could not have known of the obligation and therefore could not have complied 'without undue delay.' The retrospectivity manufactures an automatic — and unavoidable — breach of the timeliness condition for the entire pre-assent period."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This amending Act is entirely consistent with the original purpose of the Principal Act (States Grants (Universities) Act (No. 2) 1972). It simply extends the same States-as-conduit funding model to a new, specific purpose — student hardship assistance — for the 1973 year. It does not expand the legislation into new policy territory; it adds one new section and one new schedule, both tightly confined to a single funding purpose for a single calendar year."},"complexity_factors":["Very short: only 4 operative sections","Minimal defined terms — only one ('student in need') is explicitly defined","Simple linear funding chain with no branching conditional logic","No cross-referencing to other Acts beyond the Principal Act it amends","Fixed dollar amounts with no indexation, thresholds, or formulae","Single-year scope eliminates any ongoing or escalating obligations","Three straightforward grant conditions with no exceptions or carve-outs"],"plain_english_summary":"## States Grants (Universities) Act 1973\n\n**What does this law do?**\n\nThis is a short, targeted piece of legislation that authorises the Commonwealth (federal) government to hand money to each Australian State specifically to help university students who are doing it tough financially in 1973.\n\n**How does the money flow?**\n\nThe funding works in a chain:\n- The **Commonwealth pays each State** a fixed dollar amount (listed in a schedule attached to the law)\n- The **State must then promptly pass that money on** to the relevant university in its territory\n- The **university must use the money** to assist students experiencing financial hardship\n- In return, each **university must report annually** to the Australian Universities Commission (the federal body that oversaw higher education funding at the time) with statistics and information on how the money was spent\n\n**Who benefits?**\n\nStudents enrolled at any of the 15 listed Australian universities who are struggling financially — specifically, students whom their university determines to be experiencing **hardship due to their financial circumstances**. The university itself decides who qualifies.\n\n**Which universities and how much?**\n\nThe total pool is **$2,096,000**, distributed across 15 universities in six states:\n\n- **New South Wales** (6 universities): University of Sydney ($359,000), University of New South Wales ($277,050), Macquarie University ($81,000), University of New England ($63,000), University of Newcastle ($56,000), Wollongong University College ($20,000)\n- **Victoria** (3 universities): University of Melbourne ($273,000), Monash University ($231,000), La Trobe University ($82,000)\n- **Queensland** (2 universities): University of Queensland ($220,000), James Cook University of North Queensland ($25,000)\n- **South Australia** (2 universities): University of Adelaide ($146,000), Flinders University of South Australia ($54,000)\n- **Western Australia** (1 university): University of Western Australia ($147,000)\n- **Tasmania** (1 university): University of Tasmania ($62,000)\n\n**Why does it matter?**\n\nThis Act reflects the Whitlam Government's early push to expand access to higher education for Australians from lower-income backgrounds. It is a practical, one-year funding measure — not a permanent ongoing scheme — covering only the calendar year 1973. It also illustrates the constitutional mechanism Australia uses for federal education funding: because education is a State responsibility under the Constitution, the Commonwealth cannot fund universities directly without going through the States. The money must legally pass through State governments first."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1973","history":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1973/history","analysis":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1973/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1973/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1973/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/states-grants-universities-act-1973/documents"}}