{"id":"BILL-r7416","name":"Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025","slug":"universities-accord-australian-tertiary-education-commission-bill-2025","collection":"bill","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":446034,"registerId":"commonwealth-BILL-r7416-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-05-05","status":"royal_assent","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[],"analysis":{"summary":{"status_summary":"The bill received royal assent on 1 April 2026 and has become Act No. 25 of 2026.","complexity_score":6,"likely_questions":["How will mission based compacts affect higher education providers?","What is the role of the First Nations Commissioner?"],"complexity_factors":["New statutory commission with specific commissioner roles","Mission based compacts as a condition for funding"],"plain_english_summary":"The Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 establishes the Australian Tertiary Education Commission to provide stewardship of the higher education system. The Commission will enter into mission based compacts with higher education providers and prepare reports and provide advice and recommendations to ministers when requested.\n\nThe bill enshrines a National Tertiary Education Objective. The Commission must consider this objective in its work. The objective is to promote a strong, equitable and resilient democracy and to drive national economic and social development and environmental sustainability. The Commission consists of three commissioners appointed by the Minister for Education. These positions are the Chief Commissioner, the First Nations Commissioner and the Commissioner. At least one commissioner must have experience in vocational education and training. Staff from the Department of Education will assist the Commission.\n\nThe Commission will negotiate and enter into mission based compacts with Table A and Table B higher education providers. These compacts set out how the provider's goals align with national, state and local priorities and include performance indicators. A compact must be in force for a provider to receive grants under the Higher Education Support Act 2003. The Commission will review each provider's performance against its compact at least annually.\n\nThe Commission must prepare an annual report on the state of the tertiary education system. It will also give advice and recommendations to the Minister on request regarding the costs of higher education and the Higher Education Standards Framework. The Commission may publish information and undertake research related to its functions.\n\nThis legislation affects Table A and Table B higher education providers by requiring them to have mission based compacts. It also affects the Minister for Education through appointment and priority setting powers. State and territory ministers can request advice via the Commission. The Department of Education provides support to the new body.\n\nThe bill received royal assent on 1 April 2026. It will commence 28 days after assent. Following commencement, the Minister will appoint the commissioners. The Commission will then develop its strategic priorities and start negotiating compacts with providers so they can maintain access to funding."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":7,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act implements the core purpose recommended by the Universities Accord — to establish a statutory ATEC to steward tertiary education through mission based compacts and reporting (ss 8, 11, 27, 42). Compared with the Accord’s broader recommendations, this enacted version narrows some powers rather than expanding scope: it does not incorporate the ARC or TEQSA into ATEC, it does not give ATEC independent pricing or funding allocation authority, and it places ATEC within the Department with Ministerial controls on publication and directions (see ss 10, 11, 69, 71). Those changes reduce the independence and breadth of ATEC relative to the Accord’s original design, but do not represent a material growth beyond the Accord’s core objective of creating a national tertiary steward. The legislation therefore aligns with the original purpose in establishing a stewarding body but modifies its autonomy and functions compared to the original recommendations."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple cross‑references to other statutes (Higher Education Support Act 2003, TEQSA Act 2011, PGPA Act 2013, ESOS Act 2000) increasing interpretive complexity","Numerous defined terms in section 5 that import definitions from other Acts (e.g. Table A/B provider, Commonwealth contribution amount)","Nested conditional powers for compacts (decision, negotiation, suspension, default compacts) across Parts 3 and related HESA linkage (ss 27, 29, 33, 36)","Multiple administrative layers and appointment rules (ss 56–60, 59’s collective expertise requirement)","Ministerial powers that interact with ATEC discretion (s 15 strategic priorities; s 71 directions; s 69 publication agreement)","Publication and information restrictions (s 69, s 70) requiring coordination between ATEC and the Minister","Delegation and staffing regime that ties ATEC to Departmental employees with mixed lines of accountability (ss 10, 22–24, 73)","Reporting cadence and review requirements (annual State of the System report, bi‑annual statements and work plans, 2‑ and 5‑year independent reviews; ss 42–46, 74)","Committee structure and expertise requirements for the Higher Education Standards Committee (s 25(1A))","Rules power with explicit prohibitions and additional consultation requirements where rules touch VET (s 75)"],"plain_english_summary":"**What the law does, mechanically**\n\n- Establishes the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) as a statutory body within the Department of Education with three offices: a Chief Commissioner, a First Nations Commissioner and between one and three other Commissioners (ss 8–9, 56–59).\n- Gives ATEC a statutory stewardship role over the higher education system. Its core powers are to enter into and monitor “mission based compacts” with Table A and Table B higher education providers, prepare reports, and provide advice and recommendations to Commonwealth and, where relevant, state and territory ministers (ss 11, 27, 41, 42).\n- Requires mission based compacts to be in force for providers to receive Commonwealth grants under the Higher Education Support Act (HESA) (s 27; note referencing HESA). ATEC sets the form and terms of compacts, negotiates them with providers, assesses performance at least annually, and may suspend compacts for non‑compliance (ss 29–35).\n- Creates a fallback: if no negotiated compact is in force, a “default mission based compact” is automatically in force and ATEC determines its terms (ss 36–39).\n- Requires ATEC to produce recurring documents: an annual “State of the Tertiary Education System” report, and a two‑yearly statement of strategic priorities and work plan (ss 42–46). The Minister must be given drafts ahead of publication and must have copies tabled in Parliament when published (ss 42(3)–(4), 43(6)–(7)).\n- Provides that ATEC will be assisted by staff from the Department of Education; those staff are subject to ATEC Commissioners’ directions when performing ATEC work (ss 10, 22–24).\n- Enables the Minister to notify ATEC of short‑ and long‑term strategic priorities (which ATEC must take into account) and to give written directions to ATEC Commissioners about how to carry out functions (ss 15, 71). The Act excludes from ministerial directions the content of advice, decisions, or directions that target a particular provider or class of providers (s 71(2)).\n- Restricts ATEC’s publication of advice: ATEC must obtain the Minister’s agreement before publishing advice or recommendations (s 69) and may withhold publication for privacy or public‑interest reasons (s 70).\n- Gives ATEC a specific (Minister‑directed) role in allocating a maximum number of international student commencements to ESOS‑registered providers (s 11(h)).\n\n**Who is affected**\n\n- Commonwealth (the payer and controller of grant conditions): the Act gives the Commonwealth, through ATEC, a statutory mechanism to shape provider behaviour tied to funding (s 27; note referencing HESA).\n- Public and private higher education providers (Table A and Table B): must have mission based compacts in force to receive Commonwealth grants; compacts can be negotiated, varied, suspended or replaced by default compacts (ss 27–39).\n- Students and prospective international students: changes to how places are allocated (including international commencements) and how Commonwealth funding is directed may affect availability, composition and price of places (s 11(h), s 41(b)).\n- State and territory ministers: ATEC must consult and may provide advice to state/territory ministers; the Minister must consult or obtain agreement from relevant portfolio ministers before some actions (ss 12, 15, 43(3)).\n- Departmental staff: the Act embeds ATEC within the Department of Education and uses departmental staff to deliver ATEC work (ss 10, 22).\n\n**Why it matters (official purpose and a practical test against costs, incentives and trade‑offs)**\n\nOfficial purpose-claim: the Act’s stated objective is to provide “stewardship” of the higher education system — to strengthen teaching, research and system capacity, improve equitable access, and coordinate Commonwealth, state, provider and industry activity (s 3). The text emphasises planning, measurement and coordinated priorities (ss 11, 13, 42–45).\n\nTesting that claim against mechanisms, costs and incentives:\n\n- Central mechanism for influence: mission based compacts tied to grant payments (s 27; HESA linkage). This creates a direct financial lever: the Commonwealth (via ATEC) can attach behavioural and performance conditions to funding. Incentive effect: providers have a clear reason to negotiate and comply with compact terms, or risk suspension and fallback default terms (ss 33–36).\n\n- Who pays and who bears compliance cost: the Commonwealth continues to fund places, but providers bear the administrative and compliance costs of negotiating, reporting to and meeting compact requirements (ss 29, 30). Those costs are concentrated on providers; costs may pass to students through changes to course offerings or pricing if funding or allocations change (s 41(b)).\n\n- Autonomy vs control trade‑off: ATEC is housed in the Department and uses departmental staff (ss 10, 22–24). The Minister can set strategic priorities (s 15), issue directions about how Commissioners carry out functions (s 71), and must agree before ATEC publishes most advice (s 69). These features limit ATEC’s institutional independence and increase Ministerial control over public outputs. The trade‑off is greater executive control and coordination at the cost of reduced autonomous analysis and less independent public advice.\n\n- Regulatory and reporting burden: ATEC may require information from providers and holds annual assessments and, for default compacts, quarterly progress meetings — these create ongoing reporting obligations (ss 30–31, 39). The Act allows publication of provider suspensions and assessments (ss 33(5), 30(4)), adding reputational stakes.\n\n- Effects on private providers and competition: Table B providers (including private providers that receive grants) are subject to the same compact requirement (s 27). Because ATEC can set compact terms and defaults (ss 29, 36), private providers face the risk of prescriptive conditions attached to limited public funding; this could influence their product mix, governance and pricing.\n\n- International education allocation: ATEC’s statutory role to allocate maximum international commencements, if exercised, directly affects supply of international student places and the competitive dynamics of institutions that rely on international fees (s 11(h)). The Minister’s direction on this reduces ATEC’s independent discretion and centralises allocation policy in the Minister–ATEC axis.\n\n- Academic freedom and safeguards: the Act requires ATEC to consider the effect of proposed compact terms on academic freedom (s 29(2)(e). However, ATEC may include measurable performance indicators in compacts (s 29(4)(a)), which creates potential tension between performance metrics and academic discretion.\n\n- Concentrated benefits vs diffuse costs: the Act concentrates decision‑making with a small number of commissioners appointed by the Minister (ss 56–58) and with ATEC staff drawn from the Department (s 22). The benefits of that concentrated control (policy coherence, central planning) are likely concentrated to those who shape policy; the compliance and operational costs are spread across many providers and potentially students.\n\n- Implementation and operational risk: embedding ATEC within the Department simplifies resourcing in the short term but may limit ATEC’s capacity to commission independent research or hire staff outside APS arrangements (ss 22–24). The Act requires reviews at two and five years (s 74), which recognises uncertainty about operational effectiveness.\n\n**Practical effect in one line**\n\nThe Act creates a Department‑supported commission that stewards higher education mainly by pairing Commonwealth grant access with negotiated (or default) mission‑based compacts, while preserving Ministerial control over strategic priorities, publication of advice, and directions to Commissioners (ss 27, 36, 15, 69, 71).\n\n**Key statutory checks and limits you should note**\n\n- ATEC must take the National Tertiary Education Objective into account (s 13) and must have regard to improving outcomes for people facing systemic barriers (s 14).\n- The Minister cannot direct the content of ATEC’s advice or direct ATEC to make decisions about a particular provider or class of providers (s 71(2)).\n- Publication of ATEC’s advice requires Ministerial agreement (s 69), but ATEC must still produce public reports (s 42) subject to specified publication restrictions (s 70).\n\n(Section references are to the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Act 2026 as enacted.)"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/universities-accord-australian-tertiary-education-commission-bill-2025","history":"/api/acts/universities-accord-australian-tertiary-education-commission-bill-2025/history","analysis":"/api/acts/universities-accord-australian-tertiary-education-commission-bill-2025/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/universities-accord-australian-tertiary-education-commission-bill-2025/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/universities-accord-australian-tertiary-education-commission-bill-2025/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/universities-accord-australian-tertiary-education-commission-bill-2025/documents"}}