Arresting Australia’s educational decline calls for national leadership. And federal Education Minister Alan Tudge, has in his first few months, already set an ambitious tone for a much-needed schooling turnaround.

While some have urged him to be collaborator-in-chief to marshal support from the states in the “team sport” of education reform, the fact is the federal government has been doing all the rowing, while the states have done little more than throw out the anchor and complain the ship isn’t moving fast enough.