ADCET CYDA Joint submission to the Universities Accord Bill

The Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (ADCET) and Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) have prepared a joint submission to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee’s inquiry and report on the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025.
 
The purpose of the Bill is to establish the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC) as steward of the higher education system. This comes from a key recommendation from the Australian Universities Accord Final Report 2024, which identified the absence of a dedicated steward as a critical gap in the tertiary education system’s ability to plan for future needs, deliver on national priorities, and improve equity and quality outcomes.

The ADCET/CYDA submission focused on making recommendations to strengthen the Bill’s commitment to supporting and improving outcomes for students with disability in tertiary education. Recommendations for improvement were made across four key areas:

• The role of ATEC – stewards for equity outcomes in tertiary education

• Mission-based compacts – to include disability accountability

• Positive duty – placing obligations on duty holders

• Strengthening human rights foundations within the Bill

The full ADCET/CYDA submission is attached below and all submissions can be found on the Parliament of Australia website.

(January 2026)