Purpose of the Bill

The purpose of the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025 (the Bill) and the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2025 (the related Bill) is to continue governance reforms initiated following the release of the Universities Accord (the Accord).

Clause 3 sets out the objects of the Bill:

The objects of this Act are:

(a) to reduce the incidence of gender-based violence in higher education; and

(b) to establish national standards and requirements for higher education providers to prevent and respond to gender-based violence; and

(c) to establish a regulatory framework to monitor and enforce compliance with the national standards and requirements.

To this end, the Bill would enable the Minister to make, by legislative instrument, a National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence (National Code) (clause 15). It is unclear whether the National Code would be exempt from disallowance under subsection 44(1) of the Legislation Act 2003. The related Bill makes compliance with the National Code a condition of being approved as a higher education provider under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) (proposed section19-20 of HESA, at item1 of the related Bill). A proposed National Code was released with the introduction of the Bills.

The Bill follows the passage of the Universities Accord (National Student Ombudsman) Bill 2024 at the end of 2024, which established an avenue for individuals to escalate complaints against higher education providers on issues including gender-based violence; however, while designed to complement the Ombudsman, this Bill establishes its own independent regulatory framework. The Bill provides monitoring, investigation and enforcement powers for the Secretary of the Department of Education and allows enforcement through civil penalties, infringement notices, enforceable undertakings and injunctions (Part6).

The National Code will be overseen by a dedicated unit in the Department of Education.

Structure of the Bill

The Bill is divided into 8 parts:

Part 1 sets out the commencement of the Bill, the objects of the Bill and relevant definitions.

Part 2 of the Bill sets out the basic principles for regulation, which the Secretary and authorised officers must comply with when exercising powers, including the principles of regulatory necessity and proportionate regulation.

Part 3 enables the Minister to make the National Code, sets out the purpose and includes an overview of the content of the Code.

Part 4 sets out the obligations of higher education providers, including compliance with the National Code and a requirement to share information with the Secretary.

Part 5 sets out the powers of the Secretary and officials, including power for the Secretary to require certain information to be provided.

Part 6 sets out the compliance and enforcement powers, including civil penalties, infringement notices, enforceable undertakings and injunctions.

Part 7 sets out the management of information, including public disclosure of information.

Part 8 contains miscellaneous provisions, including the delayed commencement of compliance and enforcement powers.

Background

The Bills form part of a broader suite of reforms related to both higher education and gender‑based violence. An emphasis on higher education providers and safety on campus and in residential halls reflects concerns at the high rates of sexual assaults and harassment being reported by students. These concerns are long standing, with a 2017 investigation by the Australian Human Rights Centre proposing a framework for Australian universities’ responses to the systemic issues of gender-based and sexual violence.

The 2017 findings were further confirmed by the 2021 National Student Safety Survey, which found that 1 in 6 students had experienced sexual harassment and 1 in 20 had experienced sexual assault in a campus environment. Additionally, criticisms were levelled at universities’ handling of complaints, including whether processes were sufficiently explained to victim‑survivors—where formal complaints were made about sexual assault, fewer than half were satisfied with the process overall (p. 45). These findings were picked up by the Universities Accord Interim Report (pp. 133–134), and became a priority action for the Government:

Priority Action 5

Work with State and Territory governments and universities to improve university governance. This measure will help improve the capacity of universities to strengthen responses to issues including industrial relations compliance, workforce management and student safety.

The Government has announced support for this action.

Education Ministers considered the Draft Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education on 21 November 2023. On 23 February 2024, following a public consultation process, Education Ministers agreed to the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education.

The reforms should also be read in the context of the October 2022 release of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 (National Plan), which now sits at the centre of gender-based safety measures, including a focus on prevention, early intervention, responses and recovery and healing for victim-survivors.

The Bills most explicitly address the third and fourth of these measures, putting penalties in place for higher education providers which fail to address gender-based violence as set out in the National Code or which do not provide adequate support and training services related to the issue of gender-based violence.

The Bills also build upon other safety initiatives put in place by the Government. In February 2025, the National Student Ombudsman commenced work. During his second reading speech the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, pointed to the creation of that Ombudsman and the introduction of these Bills as proof of the Government’s commitment to addressing student and stakeholder concerns. Minister Clare noted the closure of a key advocacy group—End Rape on Campus—suggesting this was evidence of improved safety, despite the need for ongoing work:

End Rape on Campus was founded in 2016 by Sharna Bremner. She ran it with a small group of committed volunteers, working for free, working to make the lives of students safer—incredibly important work.

When this parliament passed legislation late last year to set up the National Student Ombudsman, they put out this statement:

End Rape on Campus Australia has now permanently closed … Almost 9 years to the day since our founding, we've done the thing that organisations like ours should be aiming to do—we've advocated ourselves out of business. We're incredibly thankful to everyone who has supported us over the years.

End Rape on Campus didn't close because the work to rid our campuses of sexual assault and harassment is complete. It is not.

It was because the government was finally listening—and we were bringing together the resources needed to make a real difference.

That's what the National Student Ombudsman is.

And that's what these bills and the draft national code are.  

At the same time as introducing the Bills on 6 February, the Government released the proposed National Code. The draft includes 7 standards:

Standard 1: Accountable leadership and governance - Effective governance and a Whole-of-Organisation approach prioritises safety and support in the prevention of and response to Gender-based Violence.

Standard 2: Safe environments and systems - Higher Education Providers’ environments are safe and systems continuously improve to prevent and respond to Gender-based Violence.

Standard 3: Knowledge and capability - Higher Education Providers build knowledge and capability to safely and effectively prevent and respond to Gender-based Violence.

Standard 4: Safety and support - Responses and support services are safe and person-centred.

Standard 5: Safe processes - All processes are safe and timely.

Standard 6: Data, evidence and impact - Higher Education Providers use evidence to inform their approach, measure change and contribute to the national evidence-base.

Standard 7: Safe Student Accommodation - Student accommodation is safe for all students and staff. (pp. 1–2)

As outlined by Minister Clare, and picked up by some media outlets, the draft code includes provisions relating to the hiring and advancement of new and existing employees. Paragraph 2.1(b) requires higher education providers to

ask prospective employees and members of the Governing Body to declare whether they have been investigated for an allegation of Gender-based Violence, or determined to have engaged in conduct that constitutes Gender-based Violence during the course of their previous employment, or otherwise in a legal process. [emphasis added]

The inclusion of allegations which have been investigated, as opposed only to those which have been proved, provides considerable powers for higher education providers to vet prospective employees.

Policy position of non-government parties/independents

In February 2024, Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson welcomed the Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence:

Whether they are on campus, online or in student accommodation, keeping students safe including from sexual assault and harassment is a critical responsibility of higher education providers. Too many incidents of gender-based violence and harassment have been swept under the carpet and that is totally unacceptable.

Stakeholder views

Little commentary on the Bills was available at the time this Digest was published. However, earlier debates on the establishment of the National Student Ombudsman and submissions made to consultation on the National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to gender-based violence issues paper provide some indication of support for the proposed National Code from advocacy groups and stakeholders.

• On the introduction of the Bills, Renee Carr from Fair Agenda said the National Code would create ‘transformative change’ for students.
• In its submission to the consultation, Universities Australia (UA) made 8 recommendations, which included warnings of regulatory overlap and challenges with the Department of Education rather than the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) overseeing the implementation of a code. Additionally, UA called for a phased implementation of the Code (this has been partly addressed through the delayed application of certain enforcement provisions, clause 46) and for provisions in the Code for providers to ‘establish contractual arrangements with third-party accommodation providers’ (p. 6).
• OurWatch, an organisation focused on the prevention of violence against women, published its submission to the issues paper supporting the development of a code but noting, among other recommendations, that:

Whole-of-organisation approaches to preventing gender-based violence require a complex and transformative change process. The demands of coordinating a whole-of-university program of work are significant and will require commitments of time and resources as well as a significant and coordinated capability uplift across the university. To support implementation and ongoing compliance with the National Code, consideration will need to be given to resourcing, workforce development and the quality and safety of support from external providers to support capability building. (p. 5)