While unfunny American sitcoms and road traffic reality programs make the small screen almost unwatchable at the moment, to add insult to injury we have to contend with a barrage of government advertising.

The federal government’s new “Your Future is Australia’s Future” was launched this week.

Amid colourful graphics of green banknotes and university students, a bubbly voiceover tells us that “higher learning leads to higher earnings. Uni graduates can earn 75 per cent more than school leavers and have more career opportunities”.

The first statement is true, but like all advertising there is a catch.

The voiceover continues: “That’s why the Australian government will continue to pay around half your undergraduate degree and HECS covers the rest”.

This sweeping statement to sell the federal government’s higher education reforms is misleading. At present, HECS is roughly half government contribution and half student contribution, delayed until the graduate is earning enough out in the workforce.

The reforms proposed by the government involve deregulation, allowing universities to charge what they like within reason. 

Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne has said the alterations would mean students may pay more for some courses but they also may pay less.

However, everyone from education analysts to the man in the street would tell you that once you give universities the power to set their own costs, they will inevitably charge more.

Mr Pyne’s reform package hit a hurdle last week when the Senate rejected his proposals. 

Usually government advertising is rolled out to convince the public of the merits of an initiative after it has passed Parliament, not before.

Many Australians will understand the need to enact efficiencies in the bloated university sector. 

However, it is insulting to spend an estimated $2 million on advertising to promote cutbacks. Even a tad hypocritical.