On the 1st of February 2025, the Australian Government commenced operation of the National Student Ombudsman to the public. This body is primarily focused around taking and investigating complaints against higher education providers in relation to gender-based and sexual violence, racism, and other issues that effect the tertiary education community.

As an “Independent and Impartial body”, according to the Department of Education (DOE), the Ombudsman has been granted extensive powers to investigate reports of certain issues, to overrule the universities’ normal complaint process, force them to investigate the incident, or escalate to the appropriate authorities. 

Since February of 2024, the DOE has been developing the “Action Plan Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Higher Education”. This 26 page document, which was released to the public for consultation on the 22nd of November, is focused on being a “blueprint” to end gender-based violence in the education system, with the plan itself intending to stretch over the next ten years. 

This plan itself was based on the federal government’s initiative to end violence against children and women between 2022-2032, however is more limited in terms of scope, focusing solely on university campuses in Australia. The first action of the DOE’s plan is to establish the National Student Ombudsman, in order to “promote best practice complaints handling and student experience.” 

The National Student Ombudsman serves as a last resort for students and staff who feel that they have not been appropriately heard by the tertiary institution that they study at or work for. Issues that can be forwarded to the Ombudsman can include student safety and welfare, course administration (timeliness and accuracy of information provided to the students), teaching provision and facilities (such as sufficiency of staffing), disciplinary processes and reasonable adjustments for students who live with a disability which has not been addressed by the institution.

The Ombudsman does not accept complaints related to any sort of academic judgement, actions relating to a Vocational Education and Training (VET) course, or actions related to employment. 

Having received a complaint, the Ombudsman can refer it to the institution, use restorative engagement, use an alternative way of handling the dispute, or finally, conduct an investigation into the issue.

Contacting the institution specifically will only be done with the approval of the party submitting the complaint, and can be avoided. These outcomes are also not mutually exclusive, with multiple actions able to be taken concurrently. The Ombudsman may also refer the complaint to higher authorities if need be, whether it be a State or Territory Ombudsman on similar issues, or human rights and anti-discrimination bodies. 

As a tertiary education institution, students of the Australian National University are directly affected by, and able to benefit from these policies. According to the National Student Safe Survey of 2021, of the 1,647 ANU students that filled out the survey, 26%  had been sexually harassed, and 12.3% of respondents had been sexually assaulted. This was over three times the national average, with the aforementioned survey demonstrating that the ANU had the second highest rate of sexual harassment and sexual assault out of any tertiary institution in Australia. 

When asked whether or not the ANU has improved since the previous NSSS survey, the ANUSA Women’s Officer, Jade Poulton, said:

“We don’t have new survey data to compare, but based on what students are still experiencing, I’d say things haven’t improved in a meaningful way since the results of the NSSS survey. Survivors are still facing the same barriers when it comes to reporting and support, and there’s no clear indication that sexual violence on campus has decreased.”

Poulton continued, “What’s really frustrating is that students and advocacy groups have been pushing for change for years, but the pace of action from the university is painfully slow. If ANU has actually improved things since 2021, they need to show us the evidence—because right now, it doesn’t feel that way.”

The Women’s Officer noted that “a new NSSS survey will be launched in the coming months, and this will provide the opportunity to see what data has actually changed.”

And when asked about the Ombudsman, they stated that  “The introduction of the National Student Ombudsman to handle university-related complaints is a significant structural change,  and it could be a game-changer for students dealing with misconduct, sexual violence, and other serious complaints.”

Poulton emphasised the importance of the Ombudsman being “genuinely independent”, having “real authority and being“accessible to students” If so, “it will make a huge difference. It means students would have a clearer way to challenge unfair decisions and push for better outcomes. It also puts more pressure on ANU to take student concerns seriously.”

They maintained that “For the Ombudsman to be genuinely effective, students need to be at the centre of the process. We need real transparency about how complaints are handled and, most importantly, real consequences when ANU fails survivors. Otherwise, this will just be another system that exists on paper but doesn’t actually help people when it matters.”

The introduction of the National Student Ombudsman is also intended to combat “homophobia, antisemitism or Islamophobia or other forms of racism on campus”. 

According to the BIPOC Department Officer, Aleesya Amirizal, they have been in communication with  the NSO’s First Officer, who “expressed interest” in the BIPOC Department’s annual Racism Report, and “expressed that the NSO would like to provide informal assistance in this year’s edition…”. Amirizal said that “Alongside my Advocacy Officer, Anenya Kale”, the Department has been able to discuss with the NSO “racism at the Australian National University and how the National Student Ombudsman can assist us with taking reports of such discrimination further in what is a detrimentally bureaucratic system.”

She hopes “that with the NSO providing support in accountability at a tertiary education level, more BIPOC students will feel safe reporting racism on campus.”