This is an edited extract from a guest speaker address to the CQU Rockhampton graduation on March 12, 2007, by John Mullarvey.

Mr Mullarvey was until recently the CEO and Company Secretary of the AVCC (Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee), the council of Australia's university presidents and the peak industry lobby group for Australia's universities. Before that, he was a long-serving and high-ranking federal public servant whose portfolio included education.

Even in this day and age it is not easy to obtain a place in an Australian university let alone to complete a university program such as the one each of you has completed. I congratulate you on your efforts which I am sure must have been a difficult task on occasions.  As one who studied part time while working full time with a young family I understand the sacrifices that you have had to make to reach this great occasion.

It is not always easy to balance the demands of family, work and study but it is something that you have all achieved because you are here tonight to receive this honour of graduating from Central Queensland University, now your university. I also congratulate your family and friends for the support they have given you during your studies - whether it be simply emotional and positive support or financial.

As graduates of this university you will understand the special place you now occupy in society as a graduate of an Australian university, whether you live in Australia or elsewhere in the world.

I have recently retired as the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Vice-Chancellor's Committee, the peak body for Australian universities, where I had been the CEO for the last six years. I had previously been the Deputy CEO for 12 years.

I have been lucky during my life to have worked in a variety of interesting areas mostly very different to what I thought I would be doing when I completed my higher school certificate through the NSW Correspondence School. 

As a mere country boy I commenced my working life as a bank teller in country NSW. After being promoted to Canberra in the bank (which I knew nothing about until handed my plane tickets) I joined the Commonwealth public service and worked for nearly 18 years in the education portfolio.  As part of the portfolio I joined the Commonwealth Schools Commission shortly after it was established by Gough Whitlam before progressing up the public service ladder in the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission and then back into the main portfolio when the mega department was created in 1987.   

The last 18 years at the AVCC was both a fascinating and challenging time - although it felt on occasions that herding fish would have been an easier occupation. During this time I had the opportunity to work with over 130 Vice-Chancellors - and have they changed in that time!

Whether it was the merging of the Vice-Chancellors from the older universities with the new ones post the Dawkins' era, working with a Minister and portfolio which refused to talk to us, dealing with inconsistent policy changes through to the Nelson reforms in 2003 and the constant government controls, it was fun.

I feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to sit at the Vice-Chancellor's table, for them to sometimes listen to me and to make policy and other decisions based on my advice.

Working in government and then with universities is certainly very different to my initial career goal of working for a large engineering firm. 

Working with Ministers and even Vice-Chancellors can be challenging to say the least. Let me relate a few of these occasions.  On one famous or was it infamous occasion a Minister was dinning with all Vice-Chancellors and during the dinner raised a bottle of red wine and pointed to a number and said this is the cut in funding coming in the next budget.  The AVCC reacted in the press in the following days resulting in many terse and unpleasant meetings with the Minister. In the budget that year - 1996 - funding was cut by 6% - half of what the Minister had predicted. I feel we did the right thing in bringing the issue out in the public although not all Vice-Chancellors agreed then or even now with that action.

On another occasion the AVCC Board was meeting with a Minister and Chief of Staff who had arrived late after attending two other functions.  Part way through the dinner a buzzing sound was heard resulting in a tape recorder being placed on the table. The Chief of Staff explained that they secretly taped all meetings with Vice-Chancellors because they could not be trusted - whether that is true or not it certainly led to another tense time with the Minister.  It was not helped by the Chief of Staff refusing to hand over the tape despite a number of attempts at persuading him to do so.

I insisted whenever we were transporting Vice-Chancellors to meetings of leaving at the time announced whether all were on board or not - with 38 of them if you delayed for one you never knew when the last one would turn up.  I recall one occasion in Ireland where this backfired when a small group of Vice-Chancellors were meeting with their Irish counter parts and their partners over dinner some 45 minutes from our hotel. So there was some surprise from the Irish when I insisted we leave on time. I thought we had everyone on board but was shocked part way along the road to realise we had left one of the Australian Vice-Chancellors back at the hotel.  But he did arrive at the dinner - after a long taxi ride!

I hope that you as graduates can now go into the wider world and also contribute in your chosen field. While a university degree will open some doors, in the end if you don't take a flexible approach in life then you will not achieve all that you might want to.  It is still critical, even with a degree, to ensure that you devote your energy and skills to whatever tasks you take on.  This includes being prepared to take some risks including with what you do or where you work. For all of you this dedication started through completing your degree.

I have been privileged in having worked with many federal Ministers for Education starting with the Hon Wal Fife through to the current Minister Julie Bishop. One of these was John Dawkins who I worked with as a senior public servant during the major policy development that occurred in the late 1980s. I worked particularly closely with the Minister in developing HECS and was responsible for developing the legislation that implemented HECS and also for developing the administrative framework to introduce HECS used by both universities and the government.

Now before you react badly to me please listen to what I have to say about HECS or to use the latest government jargon HECS HELP. What we have now differs dramatically from the original HECS. That was an income contingent loan scheme which was meant as only a contribution to the cost of providing university programs.  It provided equity in that each student contributed the same amount irrespective of what course they undertook.

It was exciting and challenging time because it led Australia in a new direction with respect to the funding of universities and who contributed to that funding.  At that time the university sector, from the Vice-Chancellors down, did not support the changes and actively lobbied against them. As one who grew up in the country, without the opportunities that currently exist to participate in a university education, I was excited by the prospects of the original HECS because it was aimed at providing the opportunity for all Australians to attend university, not just the elite.

While the original aim of the policies and of successive governments has been to increase participation in university education it has been done so at a cost to the student.  While overall participation from regional areas has increased it is my understanding that the proportion of the population from regional areas participating in university education has not changed to any great degree since the 1980s.  That is a sad reflection on all governments and a major loss for those from regional areas.

I do not believe that you can call the current scheme a contribution scheme as envisaged by Minister Dawkins - the level of debt now incurred by students is more than a simple contribution particularly given that in some disciplines students are paying almost the full cost of the course.  For example in the law discipline the Commonwealth provides $1528 per student per annum but the poor student has to contribute $8333 per annum. 

Of course the broader community, particularly those that do not attend university, will continue to argue that students obtain a private benefit from a university qualification and therefore they should make a contribution to the cost of providing that education. Few would disagree with the general proposition.

Despite this view it is unfortunate that all governments, once a tax or charge has been introduced, tend to simply look to increasing the level rather than asking, on a regular basis, whether the current policies are appropriate for the country and its people. 

I think governments should be challenged to review whether the current system is the fairest way to ensure students make an equitable contribution to the cost of their education. This is something that the electorate should be putting to all political parties in the lead up to the next Federal election.

Now the one message that I would like you to take away with you is that your degree will open many doors for you but in stepping through those doors you will need to rely, not only on the qualification, but also your own flexibility and adaptability to meet new challenges, your enthusiasm for the tasks you take on and your entrepreneurial skills to achieve the most out of your life, wherever your career takes you.

Irrespective of whether your home is in Australia or overseas I hope you will take away fond memories of your time at CQU and that you will use it to the fullest to develop not only yourself but to improve the well being of all people.