Dissolute Edwardian aristocrat Vita Sackville-West proclaimed "I detest democracy. I hate la populace. I wish education had never been introduced." She felt that all but an oligopolistic elite should be "as well fed and well housed as dairy cows - but no more thinking than that."

This sentiment has been behind every higher education reform in Australia since 1987, and is why pseudo-universities such as Southern Cross University operate as remedial high schools and professional colleges, where desperate and vulnerable young people are conned into paying to acquire the skills that they will use in the service of those who (like Abbott and Pyne) went to private schools and elite sandstone universities.

There are no "precious elite students" at SCU. There are no non-vocational 3 year courses offered at SCU. The "new universities" of the late 80s and early 90s specialise in granting qualifications for relatively low-paying jobs which often previously required no qualifications. It's a scam that sucks up money from those who can least afford it, and provides a dull, docile labour force for Abbott's bunyip aristocracy.