Australian universities and colleges will be charged a yet-to-be determined levy to fund a mandatory complaints resolution service, with fines for institutions that miss payment deadlines and regulatory crackdowns on those that do not pay at all.
Legislation introduced into parliament will transfer the A$11 million (£6 million) annual running costs of the National Student Ombudsman from the federal government to educational institutions, under a “cost recovery model” that is yet to be finalised.
Education minister Jason Clare said the ombudsman, a feature of the 2024 Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education, had been “a long time coming”. The service has received about 7,700 “student contacts” since its establishment in February 2025 and has resolved more than 6,000 of them, he said.
“Before the establishment of the National Student Ombudsman, [these complaints] had to be made through a web of individual university complaint systems or state or territory ombudsmen – or no doubt in many cases not made at all,” Clare told parliament.
“That’s why the work of the ombudsman is so important. [Students] have…access to an effective trauma-informed and independent service focused on them. The levy will ensure students can continue to access [it] free of charge and that the costs of providing this critical service are borne fairly by higher education providers.”
