Tony Abbott makes false claims about Gonski 2.0 to stir up trouble
TONY Abbott is stirring up trouble but this is his boldest attempt yet to make life miserable for PM Malcolm Turnbull.
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ANALYSIS
IT’S Tony Abbott’s boldest bid yet to make political life miserable for Malcolm Turnbull and it involves attempts to mobilise the entire Catholic education system.
At the centre of the Abbott strategy is his claim Catholic classrooms are being robbed of funds under a Turnbull program which in facts adds $1.2 billion to their resources.
He is claiming Catholic schools are being short changed when the biggest hit to their spending came in the federal Budget he delivered in 2014.
And Mr Abbott is coming dangerously close to reviving divisive elements of the long-gone state aid debate over whether the Commonwealth should only give money to government-run schools. The former prime minister’s campaign against his successor started almost as soon as Turnbull’s school funding program — dubbed Gonski 2.0 — was released on Wednesday, and almost immediately damaged the Government’s lead-up to the Budget next week.
It has already seen senior Government figures — Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar — concede changes might be made.
But Education Minister Simon Birmingham has pointedly said he will not succumb to what he yesterday called blackmail and bullying. That could apply to pressure from state premiers, and teachers unions, but was said to a background chorus of protest from the Catholic system.
And already some Catholic educators are warning parents that school fees could rise significantly.
It was not the response expected after promising a package of $242 billion over 10 years for all schools, including an $18.6 billion boost to spending over that period.
The Abbott intervention has punched negative reaction into what Mr Turnbull was entitled to believe would have been a broadly welcomed program.
Remarkably, in Parliament the internal Liberal dissent led by Mr Abbott is the main source of criticism of the funding plan. Even the Greens raised the prospect it would get through the Senate.
Labor is well back in the criticism field, claiming there should be a further $22 billion in spending while declining to commit a future Labor government to that increase.
The Government’s aim of a positive path to the Budget has been disrupted by Mr Abbott’s active support of the Catholic school system’s complaints.
That leaves Prime Minister Turnbull — who had to fly to New York for talks with US President Donald Trump — with the major political discomfort of a Budget already getting bad reviews from the highly influential Catholic community, including parents who believe they will be paying more.
The depth of that rejection, and the size of the support Mr Abbott is getting from colleagues, is difficult to assess.
It’s understandable that Catholic education authorities would promote Mr Abbott’s concerns if it meant the possibility of more money. But while those concerns are shared by some Coalition MPs and senators, Mr Abbott is making protests which they know have limited substance, and this could feed hostility towards him and brand him as a wrecker.
For example, he has complained the funding package was not first voted on by Government backbenchers. But Budget measures never are until the day itself. And there’s a touch of hypocrisy in the criticism coming from a man who added “captain’s pick” to the political
lexicon.
He has accused Education Minister Birmingham of failing to consult Catholic educators. Senator Birmingham did consult, he just didn’t seek their approval for his final package, which is standard procedure.
The Catholic sector is worried about the funding increases after the first four years. The Government has assured critics the funding will rise an average of 3.7 per cent a year for a decade.
And there is the increasingly obvious argument that if the Catholic schools are hurting for money, it is at least in part because of what Mr Abbott did to them in 2014.
However, the familiar words “partyroom showdown” are being dusted off for enthusiastic re-use as Malcolm Turnbull again faces the consequences of not meeting Tony Abbott’s wishes for a cabinet slot.
Originally published as Tony Abbott makes false claims about Gonski 2.0 to stir up trouble