A non-partisan analysis of policy decisions undermining Australia's higher education and vocational training systems
Australia's tertiary education system—once a pathway to opportunity and social mobility—has undergone profound transformation over the past three decades. Universities face unprecedented commercialization pressures while our vocational education system, particularly TAFE, has been systematically undermined through funding cuts and misguided marketization.
We must confront the reality that both major parties have contributed to a tertiary education system that increasingly privileges profit over purpose. Labor claims to champion education while underfunding the sector, while the Coalition has treated universities as businesses rather than vital public institutions. The result is skyrocketing student debt, deteriorating teaching quality, and a critical skills shortage that threatens our economic future.
This timeline tracks key policy decisions that have reshaped Australia's tertiary and vocational education systems.
Understanding the components driving education costs is crucial to identifying meaningful solutions:
The vocational sector, particularly TAFE, has been even more severely impacted by policy decisions that prioritized market competition over educational quality, resulting in a hollowed-out system unable to meet Australia's skills needs.
Marketization of vocational education that devastated public TAFE institutions while enabling predatory behavior by for-profit providers.
Key Decision-Makers: State Training Ministers including Peter Hall (VIC, Coalition), John Barilaro (NSW, Coalition), and Shannon Fentiman (QLD, Labor)
Impact: TAFE student numbers declined by 31% between 2012-2022; 33 TAFE campuses closed; course fees increased by up to 400%
Alternative approach: Core funding guarantee for TAFE as the public anchor institution in vocational education with quality standards and affordable access
Deregulated funding scheme that enabled widespread exploitation by for-profit training providers.
Key Decision-Makers: Skills Ministers Chris Evans (Labor) and Christopher Pyne (Coalition)
Impact: $7.5 billion in questionable student debts; 75% of enrolled students failed to complete qualifications; multiple provider collapses
Alternative approach: Proper regulatory frameworks with quality standards and student protections before market expansion
Fee restructuring that doubled humanities degree costs while reducing fees for "job-ready" courses.
Key Decision-Makers: Education Minister Dan Tehan (Coalition)
Impact: 113% increase in fees for humanities students; no measurable increase in STEM enrollments; reduced per-student funding across the board
Alternative approach: Evidence-based approach to skills needs with funding based on actual teaching costs rather than ideology
Systematic shift to insecure academic employment across the sector.
Key Decision-Makers: University Vice-Chancellors with tacit government approval across both parties
Impact: By 2023, over 70% of undergraduate teaching delivered by casual staff; deteriorating conditions affecting educational quality
Alternative approach: Minimum standards for secure academic employment linked to public funding
Tertiary education access varies dramatically across Australia, with regional and remote communities facing particularly severe disadvantages.
This dramatic generational inequity reflects a fundamental shift in how we view education—from public investment to private burden—creating barriers to social mobility that particularly affect students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Australia's tertiary education challenges stem from a bipartisan abandonment of education as a public good:
"Universities need to operate more efficiently and be more responsive to industry needs."— Coalition Education Minister, 2019 (while cutting per-student funding)
The Coalition has consistently pushed market-based approaches that treat education as a commodity, forcing institutions to operate like businesses rather than public services. Their ideological preference for privatization has been particularly devastating in the vocational sector.
"Education is a right, not a privilege. We will always stand up for fair access to quality education."— Labor Education Minister, 2021 (despite supporting continued fee increases)
Meanwhile, Labor has failed to match its rhetoric about educational opportunity with the necessary funding commitments, allowing the progressive marketization of the sector despite its stated values. Labor's introduction of student fees in 1989 began the transformation from free education to our current user-pays system.
The harsh reality is that both major parties have presided over the systematic dismantling of our public TAFE system and the commercialization of our universities. Only an independent voice can speak honestly about the need to restore education as a public investment without fear of ideological backlash.
Your representative, should fight for comprehensive tertiary education reform based on evidence:
Meaningful reform will require challenging the marketization mindset that has dominated policy across the political spectrum and recommitting to education as a public investment in our collective future.