you are overlooking the capital costs for building the universities. originally, most of Australia's university were built by the government, from taxation revenue. if the universities were built privately, your fees would probably be a lot more
hospital are similar. your private health insurance obtains you a 1% reduction in your tax rate
myself, obtained a free uni education, as the universities were free from around 1972 to 1990
i suppose we need to compare worldwide university costs and may find Australia may be now up there with the USA
increasing costs are probably connected to the continually falling tax rates in Australia
nothing wrong with chipping in for your uni degree but it sounds like uni fees are currently quite high