Universities Australia had a good idea what was coming, which was not much. The peak body all but endorsed the budget strategy, “returning the budget to a strong position means we will be able to fund the things we all value and want.”

And it makes it’s a standard pitch for funding universities to get the job done. “We look forward to engaging with the government through the Universities Accord process over the next year to achieve further positive outcomes for higher education, the economy and our nation.”

The Group of Eight was similar. “This good faith budget has an appropriate focus on relieving cost of living pressures and reducing debt … Good faith because the Go8 knows the government recognises that Australia’s research universities are key to the economic solution.” .

The other HE peak lobbies joined the chorus. The Australian Technology Network accepted the inevitable, pointing to positives, and stating “the government has delivered on its pre-election promises to higher education.”

And the Innovative Research Universities pointed to funding for the Universities Accord process, “which lays the foundations for necessary long-term reform.”

It was left to the Independent Higher Education Australia to kick-back, pointing out its members are excluded from the 20 000 new UG places and stating it would continue to call for, “as much as possible,” a level-playing field between public and private providers.