Higher Education Legislative Reform

Following the Australian Universities Accord, the Government committed to major reforms to improve higher education affordability and student support. The Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024* and the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 per cent) Bill 2025** were both priority legislation for the Government, requiring complex measures, extensive stakeholder and project management, and rapid development to meet the Parliamentary timetable.

Polis Partners joined the department’s legislation taskforce on both occasions to support end-to-end development of the Bills. We supported the taskforce in:

• Coordinating policy inputs and drafting instructions
• Finalising legislative drafting instructions
• Preparing supporting, parliamentary and ministerial materials
• Supporting Senate inquiry processes
• Managing Government and non-government amendments
• Drafting and finalising implementation instruments
• Tracking progress to ensure senior executives were informed and prepared throughout.

Both Bills passed Parliament and received Royal Assent in December 2024 and August 2025, respectively.

* The Universities Accord (Student Support and Other Measures) Bill 2024 included amendments to the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and other legislation to improve the way HELP indexation is calculated by capping the indexation rate to be the lower of either the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Wage Price Index (WPI). This change impacted more than 3 million Australians, and ensures that outstanding loans never grow faster than average wages in the future. The Bill also introduced a weekly Commonwealth Prac Payment to support teaching, nursing (including midwifery) and social work students to complete their university practicum placements, and delivered FEE-FREE Uni Ready courses to create enabling pathways to help more students gain the skills they need to get into university and participate in tertiary education.

** The Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 per cent) Bill 2025 provided a one-off 20 per cent reduction to HELP debts, and other student loans, and introduced a fairer repayment system by increasing the minimum repayment threshold (which will continue to increase each year with the growth in wages) and introducing a marginal repayment system where compulsory student loan repayments are calculated only on income above the new $67,000 threshold rather than having it based on a percentage of the repayment income.