Universities Accord ‘priority’ bill passes Australian parliament

Legislation giving effect to two “priority” recommendations from the Australian Universities Accord has been approved by parliament, despite resistance from the main opposition parties.

The Senate passed the bill with a sole amendment delaying its measures from taking effect until the beginning of 2024. The House of Representatives agreed to this change.

The bill’s greenlighting puts an end to the controversial “50 per cent fail rule”, which denies government subsidies to students who have not successfully completed at least half of their modules.

It also extends demand-driven funding to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. At present, only indigenous people living outside metropolitan areas qualify for uncapped university places.

Education minister Jason Clare said the new approach could double indigenous enrolments within a decade. “It doesn’t mean university is free – students will still pay [fees] – but it guarantees a place at university to all indigenous students who get the marks for the course they want to study,” he said.

“At the moment this only applies to indigenous students who live in regional Australia. Now it will apply to all. The Liberal and National parties have voted against this.”

The Senate rejected a Greens amendment that would have extended this change to indigenous postgraduates as well as undergraduate students.

The chamber also voted down a Greens amendment pressuring the government to implement a whole range of additional measures, including wiping all student debt, raising PhD stipends and paying students for mandatory vocational placements.

Shadow education minister Sarah Henderson said the abolition of the 50 per cent fail rule would “hit the most vulnerable university students”.

“Jason Clare…has walked away from the tough job of holding universities to account,” Ms Henderson said. “He has also set a debt trap for vulnerable students that shows he is tone-deaf to the cost-of-living pressures so many Australians are facing.”

Universities Australia said it supported the new arrangements but would continue talking to the government about the bill’s “non-legislative components”.

Chief executive Catriona Jackson said universities believed the recently released guidelines underpinning new student support requirements would “create additional regulatory burden without driving better outcomes for students”.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com