A Trigger Warning for Taxpayers

Governments like to talk about the “investments” they make, by which they mean investing the effort to relieve productive citizens and business of their hard-earned and give it to the mendicant sectors, where it is hoped such largesse will buy votes in job lots. Australia’s tertiary education system, or so Labor tells us, is in serious need of other people’s money — so much so that ten of Bill Shorten‘s “100 Positive Policies” purport to detail the means by which the nation will become a smarter, richer and happier land. As for the Liberals, their platform is noticeably short on specifics for the tertiary sector.

What neither party, however, has been prepared to address is just what it is that the tertiary dollar buys. Given the billions poured into the pursuit of broadening and sharpening young minds, this is a curious oversight. If you are buying a bill of goods, paying more for it does nothing to improve its quality or value. Indeed, if what you are already funding is an…