For years now, we have been told that studying science, technology, engineering and maths subjects at university is a golden ticket to a golden career – a foolproof way to career success and fulfilment while helping to save the planet and invent new things along the way. STEM is the key to the future, we are told.

The Morrison government is so convinced of this argument that last year it introduced legislation that resulted in a doubling of fees charged for humanities subjects with far lower fees for all other subject areas.