It took as long as the embargo plus a nanosecond for Universities Australia to respond to the Parker paper. “While universities shared an ambition to repair the vocational education sector, it would be a grave mistake to think the way to achieve that is to dismantle the policy settings that give Australia a world class university system,” UA CEO Catriona Jackson said.

“Our high-quality universities are the backbone of Australia’s education export sector, which contributes $30 billion a year to support Australian jobs and living standards.”

Adapting Mark 6.4,  “a parker is without honour in his own country.”