Commonwealth Power Over Higher Education: implications and realities

This paper explores the Commonwealth's power over universities. First it considers the extent of Commonwealth constitutional power as a matter of strict law and second it considers that constitutional power within a wider legal, administrative and practical context. The paper reaches four gene...

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Main Author: Craven, Greg
Format: Journal Article
Published: John Curtin Institute of Public Policy 2006
Online Access:http://www.jcipp.curtin.edu.au/publications/publicpolicy.html
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33196
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author Craven, Greg
author_facet Craven, Greg
author_sort Craven, Greg
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper explores the Commonwealth's power over universities. First it considers the extent of Commonwealth constitutional power as a matter of strict law and second it considers that constitutional power within a wider legal, administrative and practical context. The paper reaches four general conclusions: (i) the Commonwealth enjoys significant direct constitutional power over higher education; (ii) the Commonwealth has significant power to influence and form higher education policy indirectly through conditional funding of universities; (iii) notwithstanding its direct legislative power and its capacity for indirect financial influence, critically the Commonwealth presently lacks the cohesive constitutional power necessary to regulate the universities directly and comprehensively, although this may change in light of an impending decision of the High Court; (iv) in light of this analysis, any genuine attempt at national higher education legislation or regulation by the Commonwealth would, at present, have to be based upon significant cooperation with the States.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-331962017-01-30T13:35:35Z Commonwealth Power Over Higher Education: implications and realities Craven, Greg This paper explores the Commonwealth's power over universities. First it considers the extent of Commonwealth constitutional power as a matter of strict law and second it considers that constitutional power within a wider legal, administrative and practical context. The paper reaches four general conclusions: (i) the Commonwealth enjoys significant direct constitutional power over higher education; (ii) the Commonwealth has significant power to influence and form higher education policy indirectly through conditional funding of universities; (iii) notwithstanding its direct legislative power and its capacity for indirect financial influence, critically the Commonwealth presently lacks the cohesive constitutional power necessary to regulate the universities directly and comprehensively, although this may change in light of an impending decision of the High Court; (iv) in light of this analysis, any genuine attempt at national higher education legislation or regulation by the Commonwealth would, at present, have to be based upon significant cooperation with the States. 2006 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33196 http://www.jcipp.curtin.edu.au/publications/publicpolicy.html John Curtin Institute of Public Policy fulltext
spellingShingle Craven, Greg
Commonwealth Power Over Higher Education: implications and realities
title Commonwealth Power Over Higher Education: implications and realities
title_full Commonwealth Power Over Higher Education: implications and realities
title_fullStr Commonwealth Power Over Higher Education: implications and realities
title_full_unstemmed Commonwealth Power Over Higher Education: implications and realities
title_short Commonwealth Power Over Higher Education: implications and realities
title_sort commonwealth power over higher education: implications and realities
url http://www.jcipp.curtin.edu.au/publications/publicpolicy.html
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33196