Australian universities to face $2 million fines over antisemitism

Australian universities could be fined up to $2 million if they don’t deal effectively with antisemitism under new legislation to be introduced into parliament this month.

Education Minister announced last Friday that under the draft legislation, the maximum fine for universities will increase from the existing cap of $40,000 to $2 million – a 50-fold increase.

The fine regime, which will be administered by the university regulator TEQSA, is the government’s response to the recommendation by the Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal, which proposed withholding funding or terminating grants from universities that fail to effectively combat antisemitic behaviour.

That recommendation was one of the most controversial proposals in the Antisemitism Envoy’s 2025 report and was widely criticised at the time as overly punitive and potentially curtailing academic freedom. After the Bondi massacre last December, the Albanese government adopted “and fully supported” the recommendations of the report.

Without much fanfare, however, the government has rejected this key proposal in favour of a more nuanced system of penalties. Minister Clare said the new legislation “will give the university regulator more tools to enforce these new standards”.

In July, when the government hinted at the new legislation, he told The Jewish Independent: “When it comes to enforcing the standards, the university regulator at the moment has a feather and a sledgehammer and not much in between.