Australian universities have improperly applied confidentiality clauses, restricting their students from seeking support and discouraging them from making a complaint.
According to a National Student Ombudsman (NSO) report, almost half of the 44 universities in Australia use a confidentiality clause – an agreement on what a student is required to keep confidential if they make a complaint, including those about gender-based violence.
The report says this prevents the student from speaking to others outside of the complaint process about:
This clause is used by major universities including the University of Technology (UTS), James Cook University (JCU) and The University of Newcastle.
“The university (UTS) seems more concerned about the case being talked about than investigating the actual harassment being reported,” an anonymous student was quoted as saying in the report.
It also noted the experience of a UTS student who had submitted a report detailing sexual harassment from a fellow student.
An external investigator hired by UTS concluded there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations, according to the ombudsman’s report.
Soon after, the report said the university informed the student that she was now the subject of a preliminary assessment for allegedly breaching confidentiality about her complaints.
“Excessive confidentiality can cause a complainant to feel silenced or disempowered about the experience they had that led them to complain,” Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson said.
He said UTS told the NSO that it placed no restriction on students discussing their complaints with “family and friends”.
However, the NSO found that the university’s advice was inconsistent, contradictory and lacked a timeline.
The report said UTS told the student after the “insufficient evidence” finding that “there is
no policy that prevents students from speaking constructively about their experiences”. “Instead, the university has simply asked that you and others keep these conflict resolution processes (including any investigations) confidential by limiting discussions about their substance to your immediate family members and to UTS staff,” the report quoted UTS as writing.
The student clarified that she had talked to other students about her experiences of gender-based violence and making a complaint but had not mentioned the specifics, the report said.
“The university says it has zero tolerance of gender-based violence, but when you actually go through the process of reporting, it is not a zero tolerance response. Everyone who reports says they ended up regretting it, they felt blamed and punished by the university,” a student advocate group quoted in the report said.
“Once an investigation is concluded, students should be able to speak about their experience. Currently, confidentiality clauses feel attached to a punitive threat.”
The student advocate group questioned in the report why confidentiality clauses exist.
“Are they there to protect the university or students?” it said.
The NSO noted that the timeline of the incident suggested that the “the university (UTS) effectively silenced” the student who made the complaint.
It has issued guidelines for all Australian higher education providers about the use of confidentiality clauses, including a recommendation that confidentiality should only apply to the complaint process and not to the student’s experience or the reporting of sexual harm.
UTS deputy vice-chancellor Kylie Readman said in a statement that the university was “committed to doing better” and had accepted all of the NSO’s recommendations for change.
The report said The University of Newcastle had welcomed the recommendations and was working on updating its policies.
JCU said it accepted some of the recommendations, according to the report.
The NOS was established in February 2025 as an independent, national service to address the systematic failures in how universities handle student complaints.
According to First Assistant Ombudsman Sarah Bendall, the NSO’s first complaint was received in the first 15 minutes of opening the service.
More than 2200 students contacted the service to file complaints in the first six months.
