The Coalition’s campaigning heart just isn’t in unis

It seemed there would be no Labor announcement of funding for a university yesterday, which was unusual. But there was a Coalition commitment, $215 000 for basketball courts at the University of Canberra.  It followed Prime Minister Morrison announcing Monday $600 000 to fund a change room at Curtin U, for the Australian women’s high-performance hockey squad. Good and necessary projects no doubt but not exactly big vote winners. This is typical of the campaign – the government has not even tried to present itself as a friend of higher education.

And then, late in the day Labor created a contrast. Editorial CMM was just about to tell Production CMM to send the issue when the University of Adelaide reported a Labor commitment of $5m to fund a national children’s university programme. The UK-originated scheme has run at Uni Adelaide since 2013 and is designed to give disadvantaged 5-16 year old kids contact with universities.

Somehow, basketball courts don’t really rate.