This bill did not become law and is no longer proceeding.
Education & skills
Students taking Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. subjects would move into a much cheaper fee band, cutting the maximum student charge from $15,142 to $4,124 for each unit.
The Morrison Government’s Job-ready GraduatesA Morrison government higher education funding setup that made some arts and humanities subjects much more expensive for students. policy sharply increased fees for Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. subjects but had little effect on steering students into STEMShort for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the fields the older policy was meant to push students toward., leaving Arts students paying much more. This bill moves Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. units into a cheaper fee band, cutting the maximum charge from $15,142 to $4,124 for units with census dates on or after 1 January 2025.
Under the Morrison government’s Job-ready GraduatesA Morrison government higher education funding setup that made some arts and humanities subjects much more expensive for students. settings, Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. subjects were pushed into a high-fee band, leaving arts students paying far more while enrolments kept flowing and the promised shift into STEMShort for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the fields the older policy was meant to push students toward. largely failed to happen. The bill introduced on 4 November 2024 sought to reverse that by moving those units into a much cheaper band for units with census dates on or after 1 January 2025, but it lapsed when Parliament was dissolved on 28 March 2025 and the push continued into the next term.
No significant public case against the bill is recorded so far, with the available debate focusing on fixing what speakers described as unfairly high fees for arts and humanities students. in publicly available sources reviewed, no party represented in the debate opposed the bill or raised a distinct implementation, cost or safeguards concern.
Dai Le MP introduced this bill. Speeches supporting it came from some crossbench members.
Did it become law?
No
The bill did not complete passage through Parliament.
Final passage
No final passage
The bill has not completed passage and is no longer proceeding.
Time before failure
144 days
From introduction to the final recorded step before the bill stopped proceeding
Meaning
Students taking Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. subjects would move into a much cheaper fee band, cutting the maximum student charge from $15,142 to $4,124 for each unit.
Students already on older grandfathered university fee settings would also get the lower charging category for Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. subjects.
The lower fees would apply only to study units with a census dateThe date after which a student is officially locked in for a unit, which is why the bill only applies to units with census dates on or after 1 January 2025. on or after 1 January 2025.
The Higher Education Support Amendment (Fair Study and Opportunity) Bill 2024 amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to move subjects listed under ‘Society and Culture’ in table item 1 of ‘Maximum student contribution amounts for a place’ to table item 2. This will reduce the maximum amount that students can be charged by tertiary education institutions from $15,142 to $4,124 per student, per unit.Higher Education Support Amendment (Fair Study and Opportunity) explanatory memorandum
After “English,”, insert “Society and Culture,”.Higher Education Support Amendment (Fair Study and Opportunity) explanatory memorandum
The amendments of section 93‑10 of the Higher Education Support Act 2003 made by this Schedule apply in relation to units of study with a census date on or after 1 January 2025.Higher Education Support Amendment (Fair Study and Opportunity) explanatory memorandum
Context
Under the Morrison government’s Job-ready GraduatesA Morrison government higher education funding setup that made some arts and humanities subjects much more expensive for students. settings, Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. subjects were pushed into a high-fee band, leaving arts students paying far more while enrolments kept flowing and the promised shift into STEMShort for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the fields the older policy was meant to push students toward. largely failed to happen. The bill introduced on 4 November 2024 sought to reverse that by moving those units into a much cheaper band for units with census dates on or after 1 January 2025, but it lapsed when Parliament was dissolved on 28 March 2025 and the push continued into the next term.
Job-ready GraduatesA Morrison government higher education funding setup that made some arts and humanities subjects much more expensive for students. fee hikes are blamed for higher arts debts
In the second reading debateThe part of Parliament where members argue over the main purpose of a bill before deciding whether it should proceed., supporters said the Morrison government’s Job-ready Graduates schemeA Morrison government higher education funding setup that made some arts and humanities subjects much more expensive for students. had pushed Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. subjects into the top fee band without materially shifting students into STEMShort for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the fields the older policy was meant to push students toward. courses.
Second reading speech ↗Bill introduced to cut Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. student charges
The bill was introduced to move Society and CultureThe subject group this bill is about, covering arts and humanities style courses that were placed in a higher fee band. units into a cheaper contribution band, cutting the maximum student charge from $15,142 to $4,124 per unit for affected students.
Higher Education Support Amendment (Fair Study and Opportunity) explanatory memorandum ↗Bill lapses when Parliament is dissolved
The proposal did not pass before dissolution, so the planned lower fee treatment for units with census dates on or after 1 January 2025 did not take effect through this bill.
Parliamentary timeline ↗Legislative route
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Key criticism
No significant public case against the bill is recorded so far, with the available debate focusing on fixing what speakers described as unfairly high fees for arts and humanities students. in publicly available sources reviewed, no party represented in the debate opposed the bill or raised a distinct implementation, cost or safeguards concern.
No significant public case against the bill is recorded so far.
Votes
No recorded votes were found before this bill stopped proceeding.
Parliamentary debate
Start here — lead voices
Dai Le supports the bill and says it should fix the unfair fee increases imposed on arts students under the Job-ready Graduates schemeA Morrison government higher education funding setup that made some arts and humanities subjects much more expensive for students..
Read in Hansard ↗Gee supports the bill and says it is a positive step toward fixing the unfair Jobs-ready Graduates package, which he argues has hit humanities and arts students harder.
Read in Hansard ↗All speeches by bloc
2 speakers · 2 support
“We as lawmakers in this House can do better than this. We entered this House to make a difference to our communities. Sometimes there are unfortunate results, despite our best intentions. This bill seeks to begin to put right a policy that was all downside. There was no benefit for the community. Many art students have been left worse off, especially those struggling in Western Sydney. Do not forget them.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
“I'm with the accord on this. We need to overhaul the whole ineffective Jobs-ready Graduates Package, which has turned out to be a fail. This bill is a positive step in that direction. I commend it to the House, and I commend the hard-working member for Fowler for bringing this important legislation before us today.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
Record
House · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
House · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
House · Lapsed at dissolution
Lapsed at dissolution
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
