Federation University welcomes the introduction of legislation to establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission

Education has the power to change lives and communities.

The Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 (‘the Bill’) represents an important step towards ensuring every Australian can access these opportunities – regardless of postcode or background.

Federation University Australia offers its in-principle support for the Bill recognising its potential to transform higher education access, equity and impact for regional communities.

We applaud the commitment of the Minister for Education, the Hon Jason Clare MP, to regional communities in the Bill's Second Reading Speech: “The more students there are at regional universities, the more funding those universities will receive as well.”

We equally applaud the guarantee that every equity student will have a place in higher education and the focus on regional and outer suburban communities.

This commitment aligns with Federation’s work to build more pathways for local students to access in-demand industries through its university and vocational education and training programs for Victorian communities, spanning Horsham to Ballarat through to Berwick and Gippsland.

The proposed funding model the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (‘ATEC’) would design is vital to higher education sector diversity, accessibility and sustainability.

It has the potential to give regionally headquartered universities like Federation the same ability to meet community-needs as our metropolitan counterparts in Melbourne or Sydney.

As Federation transforms into Australia’s first fully Co-operative Education Model-based university and TAFE, this is critical: it means Federation can align outcomes for local students and employers while supporting regional growth and liveability.

We note with interest the proposal to establish the ATEC with one of its three commissioners on a ‘part-time’ basis.

This offers an opportunity to appoint an education equity- or regionally focused leader who can offer real-world perspectives to the ATEC’s important work

This could help ensure the system’s design creates more accessible pathways from Australia’s margins into jobs that are at the heart of Australia’s future prosperity.

Rapid economic transformation makes this critical to the reforms’ and higher education sector’s social licence, and success, in regional communities.

Federation will continue to work closely with local schools, employers and governments at all levels to build more pathways that support the prosperity of our local communities.

With 200,000 Commonwealth Supported Places being introduced into the sector from now to 2030, our focus is to ensure Federation’s work and the effective implementation of the Bill combine to deliver strong outcomes for rural, regional and outer suburban Victoria.