Chapter 1Overview
Purpose of the bill
1.1The Tertiary Education Legislation Amendment (There For Education, Not Profit) Bill 2025 (the bill) seeks to amend the Australian National University Act 1991 (ANU Act) and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 (TEQSA Act) to set a statutory limit of $430 000 for vice-chancellor remuneration and make arrangements to ensure compliance with the statutory limit.
1.2In her second reading speech, Senator Jacqui Lambie stated that the bill would set a 'reasonable and proportionate remuneration benchmark' that would reflect the 'responsibilities of university chief executives within the broader context of the Australian public sector'.
Context of the bill
1.3The bill was initially introduced in the Senate by Senator Lambie as a private senator's bill on 5 February 2025. The bill was then referred, on 12 February 2025, to the Education and Employment Legislation Committee (the committee) for inquiry and report. On 28 March 2025, the Governor-General issued a proclamation proroguing the 47th Parliament which limited the committee's ability to progress its inquiry into the bill. As such, the committee tabled a short interim report acknowledging this and that it considered it appropriate for the Senate in the 48th Parliament to resolve whether to re-refer the inquiry to the committee.
1.4On 23 July 2025, the bill was restored to the Notice Paper, and the Senate re‑referred the bill to the committee for inquiry and report by 28 November 2025.
University governance
1.5Australian public universities are established by acts of parliament in their respective state or territory, excluding the Australian National University (ANU) which is established by an act of Federal Parliament. According to Study Australia, there are 42 universities in Australia, of which 36 are public universities and six are private universities. Table 1.1 outlines the location of the main campus of each Australian university.
Table 1.1Australian universities by state/territory
| |
Australian Capital Territory | 2 |
New South Wales | 12 |
Northern Territory | 1 |
Queensland | 8 |
South Australia | 2 |
Tasmania | 1 |
Victoria | 9 |
Western Australia | 4 |
National | 3 |
Total | 42 |
Source: Study Australia, List of Australia's universities (accessed 17 March 2026).
1.6Vice-chancellors are appointed by, and accountable to, the governing body of their university. These governing bodies have responsibility over vice‑chancellor performance, and they determine their renumeration.
Expert Council on University Governance
1.7On 23 January 2025, the Minister for Education, the Hon Jason Clare MP (Minister Clare), announced the members for an Expert Council on University Governance (Expert Council) who would provide 'expert and technical governance advice to Education Ministers' to improve university governance and performance.
1.8The Expert Council was established in response to Priority Action 5 of the Universities Accord Interim Report and ceased its work on 17 October 2025 with the presentation of its Final Report and Principles (final report).
1.9The matters that the Expert Council was tasked with looking into included matters relating to remuneration, accountability, transparency and culture. The government-nominated members on the Expert Council were:
Ms Melinda Cilento, Chair;
Ms Sharan Burrow AC; and
Mr Bruce Cowley.
1.10The Expert Council also included representatives from the following organisations:
University Chancellors Council;
Australian Institute of Company Directors;
Governance Institute of Australia;
Australian Indigenous Governance Institute;
Law Council of Australia;
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency; and
Universities Australia.
1.11The National Tertiary Education Union and the National Union of Students also played a role on the Expert Council and had opportunities to provide an expert to participate in the work of the Expert Council.
1.12The Expert Council provided its final report to education ministers on 17October 2025. The final report outlined eight principles, of which Principle8.2 is directly relevant to the remuneration of university executives:
The governing body is accountable for the university's remuneration strategy and should:
(a)establish an appropriate remuneration framework that reflects:
(i)ethical considerations, including public trust, reputational risk and the university's social context and purpose as a publicly funded institution,
(ii)the university's size, complexity and leadership responsibility,
(iii)the university's financial sustainability and funding model,
(iv)benchmarking against other relevant public sector, for-purpose entities and private sector entities,
(v)structured job evaluation methodologies for senior management roles to independently assess role complexity and contribution in a consistent and evidence-based way,
(vi)alignment with performance against pre-agreed, measurable outcomes aligned with the university's strategy,
(b)monitor implementation of the remuneration framework,
(c)require that there are effective systems for staff to be paid in accordance with legal requirements,
(d)disclose the remuneration framework,
(e)ensure any variable remuneration or incentive payments are linked to clear performance metrics,
(f)annually disclose the remuneration of the Vice-Chancellor and senior managers, including a breakdown of their fixed remuneration, any variable remuneration and incentive payments, and other benefits, and
(g)annually disclose whether the Vice-Chancellor or senior managers received material remuneration from a party other than the university.
1.13The final report elaborated on the importance of such a remuneration framework, noting that:
… having effective and appropriate workforce and remuneration strategies and processes that support and enable staff engagement is an important enabler of the ability to attract and retain the right staff and create a positive environment in which to work and study. Attracting and retaining the right leadership and workforce is key to university performance. Because Australia's public universities operate with significant public funding, while competing globally for academic leadership, remuneration levels and workforce strategies must balance fiscal responsibility and public accountability with the need to attract and retain leaders capable of navigating complex academic, financial, community and stakeholder landscapes.
1.14On 18 October 2025, Minister Clare confirmed that the Australian Government would implement the Expert Council's eight principles as outlined in the final report. The Minister announced that the eight principles would be written into Commonwealth regulation through the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021, with universities required to report on compliance on an 'if not, why not' basis to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).
1.15As part of the new University Governance Principles, the Australian Government will work in collaboration with the Commonwealth Remuneration Tribunal, states and territories, and stakeholders, including the University Chancellors Council, to establish a remuneration framework for vice-chancellor remuneration.
Inquiry into the quality of governance at Australian higher education providers
1.16The committee conducted a self-referred inquiry into the quality of governance at Australian higher education providers, with one of the terms of reference specifically relating to executive remuneration. The full terms of reference can be found on the committee's inquiry webpage.
1.17On 19 September 2025, the committee tabled an interim report for the inquiry, making 12 recommendations. The report included the following recommendation relating to the renumeration of vice-chancellors:
The committee recommends that the Australian Government work with the Remuneration Tribunal and states and territories to devise a mechanism or framework of classification structures and remuneration ranges to determine vice-chancellors' and senior executives' remuneration. University councils would retain responsibility for setting the vice-chancellors' and senior executives' remuneration, within the appropriate classification and remuneration range.
1.18The committee tabled its final report on 4 December 2025, making a further eight recommendations. Further information about the inquiry can be found on the inquiry webpage.
Vice-chancellor renumeration
1.19Analysis by the Australia Institute found that, in 2023, vice-chancellors at Group of Eight universities earned an average of $1.287 million. Table 1.2 outlines the renumeration of vice-chancellors at Group of Eight universities in 2023.
Table 1.2Group of Eight vice-chancellor renumeration
University | Vice-chancellor renumeration per annum (2023 midpoint) |
University of Adelaide | $1.0525 million |
Australian National University | $1.1 million |
University of Melbourne | $1.4475 million |
Monash University | $1.565 million |
University of Queensland | $1.1625 million |
University of Sydney | $1.1775 million |
UNSW Sydney | $1.18 million |
University of Western Australia | $904 000 |
Source: National Tertiary Education Union, Submission 3 (47th Parliament), Attachment 1 (Ending bad governance for good), p. 3.
1.20On 15 July 2025, the University Chancellors Council (UCC) announced that it had written to Minister Clare 'to formally propose the development of a new advisory framework for Vice-Chancellor renumeration, to be supported by the Commonwealth Renumeration Tribunal'. UCC stated that this new partnership with the Remuneration Tribunal would:
… provide independent, nationally consistent advice to university governing bodies on Vice-Chancellor remuneration – aligning the sector with best practice and ensuring remuneration settings are transparent, appropriate, and publicly defensible.
Key provisions of the bill
1.21The following section provides a summary of the key aspects of the bill including the setting of remuneration limits for vice-chancellor salaries and the enhanced powers that TEQSA will have in terms of obtaining information from universities.
Setting vice-chancellor remuneration for the Australian National University
1.22Part 1 of the bill relates to the setting of remuneration for vice-chancellors at the ANU by amending the ANU Act. The ANU is the only Australian university that is established by and has its functions, powers, and governance arrangements set out by an Act of the Commonwealth.
1.23The bill seeks to add a new subsection to section 34 of the ANU Act that sets out that the renumeration of the Vice-Chancellor, for each year of the Vice‑Chancellor's term of appointment, must be less than $430 000 or the amount prescribed by the Minister for Education (Minister). The bill provides for the Minister to prescribe a remuneration amount for the Vice-Chancellor by legislative instrument, for one year.
Setting vice-chancellor remuneration for other universities
1.24Part 2 of the bill seeks to amend the TEQSA Act to instate a vice-chancellor remuneration requirement for Australian universities, excluding ANU, that are Table A providers and have an office of vice-chancellor. This amendment seeks to require the remuneration of vice-chancellors to be less than $430,000, or the amount prescribed by the Minister, by legislative instrument for the first year of the vice-chancellor's appointment.
Compliance with vice-chancellor remuneration limit
1.25The bill also seeks to insert a provision that allows TEQSA to request information from Australian universities relating to the university's compliance with the remuneration limit. The bill states that universities must comply with this request.
Financial implications
1.26The bill's Explanatory Memorandum does not declare any financial implications.
Consideration by other parliamentary committees
1.27When examining a bill, the committee considers any relevant comments published by the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills (Scrutiny Committee) and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (Human Rights Committee).
1.28The Scrutiny Committee considered the bill in its Scrutiny Digest 2 of 2025 and Scrutiny Digest 4 of 2025, and did not make comment on its contents in either report.
1.29The Human Rights Committee considered the bill in its Report 2 of 2025 and Report 4 of 2025, but did not comment on its contents in either report.
Conduct of the committee's inquiry
1.30The committee advertised the inquiry on its website and invited submissions by 28 August 2025.
1.31The committee accepted and published seven submissions during its inquiry in the 47th Parliament, and six submissions during its inquiry in the 48thParliament, all of which are listed at Appendix 1.
Acknowledgements
1.32The committee thanks those individuals and organisations who contributed to the inquiry by preparing written submissions.