Labor education shadow minister Tanya Plibersek explained on RN the other day why she thought University of Tasmania VC Rufus Black had said his uni could cope with the (MYEFO) federal cuts. “I think the University of Tasmania are happy to have the prime minister announcing a special deal for some extra sub-bachelor places for their university. It would be a bit rude to, you know, dump him in it today.”

Um, won’t those be the places promised in the last election campaign, way before the government announced in MYEFO the two-year freeze on funding of student numbers and the end of the demand driven system?

Ms Plibersek’s general point was better made; “it’s a very old-fashioned system where the government can do special deals, university by university, for sub-bachelor paces to try and make up for the impact on bachelor level courses and the freezing of university funding more generally.” Labor says it will restore the demand driven undergraduate system if it wins the election.