Media and Citations

Opinion Pieces

• Political violence has no place on campus in The Australian, 24th of September 2025 (PDF)

• Australia’s proposed 20 per cent student debt wipe is unfair in Times Higher Education, 22nd of November 2024 (PDF)

• Uni debt relief won’t fix cost-of-living pressures in The Australian, 13th of May 2024 (PDF)

• How high schools can best prepare students for the real world in The James Martin Policymaker, 29th of April 2024 (PDF)

• Getting the tertiary transition right: six things high schools can do to set students up for success at university in The James Martin Policymaker, 20th of March 2024 (PDF)

• Accord will make Australia the world leader in student loans in Times Higher Education, 4th of March 2024 (PDF)

• University Accord gets many things right, but will it be actioned? in The Australian, 27th of February 2024 (PDF)

• University review must consider fairness and quality education in The Australian Financial Review, 21st of November 2022 (PDF)

• Why the uni fee hike makes no sense in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 19th of July 2020 (PDF)

• There's nothing unfair about IB in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 16th of June 2019 (PDF)

Articles

• Changing the cost of some uni degrees didn’t change students’ minds in Pursuit (Melbourne University), 6th of December 2023 (PDF) [co-authored with Mick Coelli and Jan Kabatek]

• Only 1.5% of students swapped fields due to the ‘Job-ready Graduates’ fee changes in The Conversation, 8th of November 2023 (PDF) [co-authored with Jan Kabatek and Mick Coelli; uncredited co-author due to Conversation publication guidelines requiring a PhD to get recognition as an author]

Media

Media features:

• Want a secure, high-paying job? Don’t expect university to get you there in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 6th of June 2025 (PDF)*

• The flawed logic behind Australia’s higher education policy in Future Forward Australia, 6th of June 2025

• Future leaders in aerospace, quantum physics and cancer research among eighteen Australians named as 2025 John Monash Scholars in The Scholars Podcast, 31st October 2024

  • "Max Yong is the 2025 John Monash ANZAC Centenary Scholar. He is going to Harvard Kennedy School to study for a Master of Public Policy. But I must say, he is already an amazing mover and shaker in Australian society, writing on higher education, policy, and politics in major publications, and also being cited in major reports going to government, and including on the Universities Accord. We’re convinced he’s going to come back as a real addition to Australia’s talent back in higher education.” - Paul Ramage, CEO of John Monash Foundation

• The 2025 John Monash Scholars in Business Daily Media, 30th October 2024

• The Jobready Graduates Package explained in ABC News, 14th May 2024

• My daughter’s planning an arts degree. I’m proud (and quietly terrified) in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 1st of December 2023 (PDF) 

• ‘I try not to think about it’: The soaring cost of humanities courses at uni in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 22nd of November 2023 (PDF) [front page]

• ‘A big black shadow’: Allegra’s $50,000 HECS debt for one straightforward degree in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 22nd of November 2023 (PDF) 

• Research: Morrison Government’s Job-Ready Graduate Scheme had minimal impact on student enrolments in Melbourne University Faculty of Business and Economics Newsroom, 8th November 2023 (PDF)*

• ‘Massive’ fees shake-up fails to reshape student course choices in Times Higher Education, 29th of September 2023 (PDF)*

• HELP hike for HASS students: it hasn’t hit yet in Future Campus, 27th of September 2023 (PDF)

• How should Australia address students’ cost-of-living crisis? in Times Higher Education, 16th of February 2023 (PDF)*

• Students off unfair hook for fee stuff-up in Campus Morning Mail, 11th of November 2022 (PDF)*

• Australian tuition fee review ‘must go back to first principles in Times Higher Education, 3rd of November 2022 (PDF)*

• Universities decline to cash in on Australian fee hikes in Times Higher Education, 26th of October 2022 (PDF)*

• Labor’s next steps in higher education must include fee reform  in The Australian, 25th of October 2022 (PDF)*

• Coalition’s course fee shake-up fails to change students’ choice in The Australian, 25th of October 2022 (PDF)*

• Thousands of extra university places created to help plug skills gaps in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 23rd of October 2022 (PDF)

• Students ignore costs in choosing university study: analysis in The Australian Financial Review, 23rd of October 2022 (PDF)*

• Job Ready Graduates does not work, at any price in Campus Morning Mail, 20th of October 2022 (PDF)*

*With comment

Media citations:

• Albanese’s HECS relief won’t fix the core problem – the fees system is broken in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 4th of November 2024

• If we want more young people to go to uni, stop screwing them over in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, 26th of February 2024

• Universities Accord final report: what is it, and what does it recommend? in The Conversation, 25th of February 2024

• Australia’s Universities Accord – a model for British Labour? in Higher Education Policy Institute, 13th of December 2023

• Job-ready Graduates fails to shape student preferences in DASHH, 18th of October 2023

• Why are university degrees in Australia getting more expensive, and how much will they cost? in The Guardian, 2nd of October 2023 (PDF)

• Arts, business, law students hit hardest as uni fees rise in The Australian Financial Review, 24th of September 2023 (PDF)

• How to lift education levels in rural towns cheaply and easily in The Australian Financial Review, 3rd of July 2023 

• A stunning achievement: WSU’s global No. 1 sustainability ranking in The Australian Financial Review, 4th of June 2023