Universities in a state: the federal case against Commonwealth control of universities

The Commonwealth Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, has suggested that the federal government assume full legal responsibility for universities. Andrew Norton argues that transferring power over universities from the states to the Commonwealth would be a mistake. Centralising decisionmaking in Canberra would put key decisions in the hands of the government most deaf to feedback, with the weakest incentives to fix problems, and the least flexibility in dealing with them