The significant under-representation of people from low socio-economic backgrounds in higher education in Australia has been placed squarely at the front of the Australian Federal Government's higher education agenda. The barriers for students from low socio-economic backgrounds to access higher education are broad and multi-causal. The significance of policies and interventions promoting the theme of "inclusive education", not just in Australia, but also internationally, must be understood within their particular social context and the assumptions which underpin what we say and do unpicked. Both government and universities have begun to address some of the trenchant issues inhibiting the participation in higher education of young people from disadvantaged communities. Government has focused its attention on those levers that it most readily controls--targets and funding. In this article, we will briefly discuss the context within which current higher education policy on social inclusion has developed in Australia. We will then explore the ways in which universities have engaged with this policy framework. In particular, we will examine some of the challenges and opportunities this has created for one Australian research-intensive university whose recent history has been characterised more by its exclusivity than by an agenda of widening participation, as it embarks on a programme of increased engagement with schools and communities and critical reflection of its own practice.