Recognising the inaugural ATEC Commissioners

The terms of inaugural Australian Tertiary Education Commissioners Professor Mary O’Kane AC and Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO conclude at the end of this year.

I want to thank them both for helping to establish the interim Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

As Chair of the Universities Accord Expert Panel, Mary O’Kane mapped out a nation-building program of reforms that are set out in the Accord, including the establishment of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

The Accord is a blueprint for reform of our higher education system for the next decade and beyond, and Mary O’Kane is the architect of that and more.

Mary O’Kane didn’t just design the Accord as the first ATEC Commissioner she has helped build it.  She has helped to lift the words off the page and make them real.

I asked both Mary O’Kane and Larissa Behrendt to serve the inaugural ATEC Commissioners this year, to help establish the interim Commission and craft the legislation that will formally establish it.

Larissa also served on the Universities Accord Expert Panel and as the ATEC’s inaugural First Nations Commissioner.

I am indebted to both Mary and Larissa for their work and their extraordinary vision.

The Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 has now been introduced to Parliament.

The Government will announce two interim Commissioners with ongoing support from Jobs and Skills Australia Commissioner Professor Barney Glover AO early next year.

Recruitment of the statutory ATEC Commissioners has commenced, with applications due on 29 January 2026.