The Open Educational Resource (OER) movement is growing rapidly. Many universities around the globe have launched OER projects, arguably millions of learners have benefited from learning through OER materials, and many educational institutions, mostly distance education providers, appear to have obtained significant rewards. However, we still have much to learn about the OER movement and Australian institutions are still in their early stages of use, adoption and development. Many institutions are still grappling with issues such as resistance to giving away content, as well as copyright and intellectual property matters that remain ambiguous to senior educational managers. Besides the issues mentioned above, the challenges faced by the OER movement include the lack of adequate national and institutional policies in place to steer and encourage further adoption. In the currently policy context, this paper attempts to examine the potential of OERs to bridge the gap between formal, non-formal and informal education in Australia. Then, it highlights some of the current Australian OERs initiatives that have been identified through a centrally funded research project. The study reported in this paper aims to gather an understanding of the extent of OER usage in Australia and identify future policy needs and recommendations which will advance the use, adoption and management of OERs in Australian higher education.