The architect of the HECS scheme Bruce Chapman, says economists agree, the Job-ready Graduate scheme is bad economics. (more…)
Category: Education
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Job-ready Graduates has failed – a first step to fixing it is on the table
The Job-ready Graduates reforms have increased student debt, failed to shift enrolments, and entrenched inequality across Australia’s higher education system. (more…)
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Does AI mean more uni students are plagiarising their work?
Long-term research suggests student plagiarism has declined over two decades, despite concerns about AI. But more than half of students still engage in it at some point.
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School funding is undermining equality and cohesion
Australia’s school funding model is widening inequality and weakening public education. Without reform, it risks undermining social cohesion, productivity and democratic stability. (more…)
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When charity no longer means need
Australia’s charitable framework now rewards compliance over need, allowing well-resourced institutions and contested activities to sit alongside genuine relief of disadvantage.
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Half the truth: defending public education requires more honesty, not less
Criticism of public schools is not entirely wrong – but by ignoring unequal conditions, it misdiagnoses the problem and misplaces responsibility.
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Underfunded public schools, overfunded private ones – the gap grows
Private schools are pulling further ahead as funding policies deepen inequality across Australia’s education system. (more…)
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Bill Shorten’s university proposal breaks the deadlock – but design will decide its value
Bill Shorten’s proposal for a university fund tackles a long-standing funding problem – but its impact will depend on how it is designed and delivered.
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Prevention that pays: stop ranking children and start understanding them
Standardised testing and rankings dominate school systems, but improving student wellbeing and engagement requires deeper integration between education and health support. (more…)
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The Albanese controversy shows how universities have lost their way
A cancelled venue for a UN rapporteur’s appearance highlights how universities are increasingly restricting debate about Israel and Palestine under pressure over antisemitism.
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Abbott’s finger pointing on overseas students is pure hypocrisy
Tony Abbott blames record numbers of temporary residents and international students on recent governments. But policy changes introduced and maintained under his own leadership played a central role in driving that growth.
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Regions, not postcodes: the structural reality of rural public education
Educational disadvantage in Australia is often framed as urban or socioeconomic. But across regional and remote communities, public schools operate with structurally thin staffing, services and support – and the consequences are cumulative. (more…)
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Universities expose racism’s scale – and the dangers of unequal responses
New national data shows racism is widespread across Australian universities. The challenge is responding fairly, without elevating one community’s suffering over another’s. (more…)
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How elite private schools distort Australia’s teaching workforce
Fees charged by elite private schools go on rising. But who is paying the price? (more…)
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Education savings plans and the quiet erosion of public schooling
Education savings schemes appear sensible and responsible. But their quiet rise reflects a deeper failure – a loss of confidence in Australia’s commitment to properly fund public education as a shared civic good. (more…)
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Australia’s China student pipeline is facing a credibility problem
Australian universities remain popular with Chinese students, but online chat reveals growing scepticism about academic rigour, employability and value for money. These perceptions raise hard questions about the long-term sustainability of Australia’s education export model.
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Best of 2025 – The inflation myth propping up private school privilege
Private schools regularly blame inflation for rising fees, yet funding arrangements mean they are largely compensated for cost increases. Their fee-setting power widens the resource gap while feeding back into inflation itself. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – How did Australian universities go from free education to $50,000 arts degrees in 50 years?
Australians think students are being asked to pay far too much for their degrees. Just under half (47%) of Australians surveyed by YouGov in June 2025 believe a worker on an average income should be able to pay off the debt for a standard three-year degree within five years. When it comes to the cost of a degree, 58% believe a student should pay $5000 or less per year – less than a third of what arts students now pay. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Lack of China capability can only do harm to society: Our current situation is a disgrace
In March 2023, the Australian Academy of the Humanities sounded the alarm on the decline in our understanding and knowledge of China through a report on “Australia’s China Knowledge Capability”. (more…)
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Australia’s school attendance crisis needs urgent national action
School attendance has been sliding for more than a decade, with more than a million Australian students now missing significant classroom time. Governments have set ambitious targets to reverse the trend, but meeting them will require a fundamental shift in approach. (more…)
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The market lie at the heart of public education policy
Treating public schools as competitors in an education marketplace shifts blame downward, obscures chronic underfunding and corrodes the very purpose of public education. (more…)
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After the ATAR: keeping perspective and finding your next step
As ATAR results are released, there are practical ways for students and families to keep perspective, protect wellbeing and explore future options.
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Australia’s school bureaucracy is growing faster than classrooms
Administrative staffing in Australia’s public education system has grown far faster than student enrolments or teacher numbers. Unless governments act, promised school funding risks being absorbed by bureaucracy rather than improving learning and wellbeing.
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You can’t regulate your way to quality early childhood education
Recent safety failures have triggered tighter regulation in early childhood education and care. But compliance alone cannot deliver quality. Real reform begins with professionalising the workforce. (more…)
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Overworked, overburdened, and burning out: Australian teachers’ workloads among the worst in OECD
Australian teachers have unsustainable workloads, and government responses have done little to ease their burden.
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A search for purpose, vision and identity in Australian universities
The Australian university sector has become disconnected from the national imagination and needs a compelling new vision for the future.
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How did Australian universities go from free education to $50,000 arts degrees in 50 years?
Australians think students are being asked to pay far too much for their degrees. Just under half (47%) of Australians surveyed by YouGov in June 2025 believe a worker on an average income should be able to pay off the debt for a standard three-year degree within five years. When it comes to the cost of a degree, 58% believe a student should pay $5000 or less per year – less than a third of what arts students now pay. (more…)
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It’s official! Accounting tricks denied public schools more than $2b in funding in 2023
A new report by the National School Resourcing Board reveals that public schools lost more than $2 billion in funding in 2023 because of accounting tricks used by state governments under the Commonwealth-State funding agreements operating at the time. (more…)
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Boosting equity and safety for Australia’s children
In Australia, 37% of students aged between about 5 or 6 and 18 years go to private schools which charge fees – but while those schools are private, they are not run for profit. (more…)
