Education Minister Mike Vibert, department director Tom McKeon and two assistant directors faced questions from an audience and meeting chairman Senator Ben Shenton about how much parents are going to have to contribute under the reformed funding system that is being set up to cover the increased cost of university.
But Senator Vibert was giving away no sneak previews of the funding solution he is to unveil in November – save for repeating his promise that no young people would be barred from attending university because they could not afford it.
Instead, the audience had to settle for a discussion on the pressures on States funding for education, the increasing cost of university education and the skills that young people needed to have under their belts as they left education and entered the workplace.
