Summary

Amends the: Ombudsman Act 1976 to: establish the office of the VET Student Loans Ombudsman; prescribe the functions of the ombudsman and the manner in which he or she is able to perform those functions; allow for the ombudsman to receive and investigate complaints, investigate complaints on his or her own initiative and refer complaints to other bodies; require the ombudsman to report to VET student loan scheme providers in certain circumstances; require the minister to table reports about VET loan scheme providers in the Parliament if requested to do so by the ombudsman; require the ombudsman to provide annual and certain other reports to the minister; enable the ombudsman to provide evidence to a VET student loan provider principal executive officer that a VET student loan officer of the provider has engaged in misconduct; VET Student Loans Act 2016 to: allow the minster to specify, by legislative instrument, that the ombudsman is an external dispute resolution scheme for the purposes of the Act; and provide that all approved course providers are deemed to be members of the ombudsman if it is specified as an external dispute resolution scheme by the minister; and Australian Research Council Act 2001 to: update indexation against appropriation funding caps for existing legislated amounts; and include an additional forward estimate amount for the financial year starting on 1 July 2019.