From 1996 to 2003, Public Investment in Australian Tertiary Institutions - 8%,  Rest of the Developed World, Average  + 38% -- Bob Hawke. (October 30, 2005)

    An article in the October 27  Australian reports on an interview the former Labor Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, gave to Sydney talk back show host John Laws. He told Law's listeners that the sagging public investment in education is a sign of the Federal Government's priorities, "Just look at what has been done in the area of education," and said that, from 1996 to 2003, public investment in Australian tertiary institutions had fallen by eight per cent while in the rest of the developed world, the average increase was 38 per cent.

Mr. Hawke, a Rhodes Scholar in 1953, gave no indication as to what measures he would suggest a Labor government ought to take to reverse the decay engulfing Australia's tertiary education system. It's high time someone in the party with some political clout did and in meaningful detail.