Australia's 2020 Essay Mill Ban: How TEQSA Enforces It

TL;DR

Australia's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Prohibiting Academic Cheating Services) Act 2020 made essay mill services illegal. TEQSA enforces — public 2,300+ provider list, website blocking orders, enforcement actions. Fines AUD 100,000 (corporate), AUD 20,000 (individual). One of three globally-comparable specific bans (alongside Ireland 2019, UK 2022).

The Act

The 2020 amendment extended Australia's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency framework to cover contract cheating. Key provisions:

Offences created

The Act makes it an offence to:

• Provide academic cheating services
• Advertise academic cheating services
• Arrange for academic cheating services to be provided

The offences apply to providers and intermediaries. Individual students using such services are not criminalised — institutional misconduct frameworks continue to handle individual cases.

Penalties

• Corporate offenders: up to AUD 100,000 per offence
• Individual offenders: up to AUD 20,000 per offence
• Repeat or aggravated offences: higher tier penalties

TEQSA powers

The Act gave TEQSA:

• Investigation and enforcement authority
• Website blocking order powers
• Cooperation arrangements with telecoms and ISPs for technical enforcement
• Authority to publish information about known contract cheating providers

TEQSA enforcement activities

The public provider list

TEQSA maintains a public list of known contract cheating services — 2,300+ providers as of 2025–2026. The list:

• Is published openly online
• Is updated as new providers are identified
• Serves as evidence for institutional blocking decisions
• Is shared with international regulators

The public list is the most distinctive feature of Australia's enforcement framework. No other regulator globally maintains an equivalent public resource.

Website blocking orders

TEQSA has obtained court orders requiring Australian ISPs to block access to identified essay mill websites. The orders affect dozens of major essay mill services.

Enforcement actions

TEQSA has pursued enforcement actions against providers found to be operating in Australia or targeting Australian students. Specific case counts and outcomes are documented in TEQSA's annual reports.

International coordination

TEQSA coordinates with:

• QQI (Ireland) — Irish equivalent regulator
• OfS (UK) — UK equivalent regulator
• Other Anglophone regulators considering similar legislation

The coordination enables cross-border response to providers operating in multiple jurisdictions.

What Australia did right

Building on existing infrastructure

The 2020 Act extended TEQSA's existing regulatory framework rather than creating a new body. This:

• Reduced implementation cost
• Leveraged existing institutional relationships
• Enabled rapid operational deployment after the Act came into force

The public list

The decision to maintain a publicly accessible list of known providers was strategically important:

• Enables institutional-level blocking
• Signals to students that authorities are actively monitoring
• Provides evidence for enforcement actions
• Demonstrates accountability for the regulator

Other regulators (QQI in Ireland, OfS in the UK) operate similar lists internally but do not publish them comprehensively.

Coordination with detection

The Act provides legal basis for TEQSA cooperation with detection tool vendors (Turnitin etc.) on identifying and pursuing essay mill providers. The cooperation flows include evidence gathering, intelligence sharing, and joint enforcement.

Impact on AMI scores

R-Score Legislation sub-component: 100

Australia's Legislation sub-score of 100 is the maximum. The 2020 Act is the principal driver. Alongside Ireland (also 100) and the UK (100), these three countries share the top of the Legislation distribution.

R-Score overall: 88.8

Australia's overall R-Score of 88.8 is the highest in the AMI dataset. The legislation is one of four contributing components (alongside Detection 85, Disclosure 90, Penalties 80). The combined package produces the global maximum.

P-Score: 7.43

Australia's Prevalence score of 7.43 is the second lowest globally (after Canada at 4.90). The dimension scores are consistently moderate-low across D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6. The contract cheating dimension (D1=33) is tied for the lowest in the dataset (with UK and Ireland).

Implementation lessons

Statutory backing matters

Before the 2020 Act, TEQSA had limited authority to pursue essay mill providers — only able to act against accredited institutions. The statutory backing transformed enforcement capacity.

Cross-jurisdictional cooperation is essential

Essay mill providers frequently operate outside the regulator's home jurisdiction. The Irish, UK, and Australian regulators have built cooperation structures that no single regulator could replicate alone.

Provider deplatforming is a major lever

Most essay mill providers depend on:

• Search engine visibility
• Online advertising
• Payment processor relationships
• Web hosting services

Coordinated action across these intermediaries (rather than just direct provider prosecution) has been a significant enforcement tool.

Student behaviour shifts slowly

Even with effective supply-side action, demand persists. Students still seek services from providers based in non-ban jurisdictions. The expected outcome is reduced — not eliminated — incidence.

Comparison with Ireland and UK

Australia's distinctive features: the public provider list and the relatively early enforcement infrastructure development.

What other countries can adapt

The TEQSA model

Specific elements that other regulators could replicate:

1. Statutory framework with regulator enforcement powers
2. Public list of known providers
3. Website blocking authority
4. International cooperation arrangements
5. Annual reporting on enforcement activity

What requires statutory backing

• Specific offences and penalty framework
• Regulator enforcement authority
• Website blocking court order powers

What can be done administratively

• Public information lists (no statute required)
• Institutional cooperation arrangements
• Detection tool partnerships

The Australian model demonstrates that comprehensive supply-side action against essay mills is operationally feasible at scale.

Sources

• Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Prohibiting Academic Cheating Services) Act 2020
• TEQSA annual reports
• TEQSA public list of contract cheating providers
• AMI v1.5 Australia country profile

Full methodology | Download dataset