By David Crowe
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has cleared another hurdle in the race to the federal election by striking a $4.8 billion school funding deal that aims to lift results across NSW, bringing Labor within sight of a national agreement on a key issue for voters.
The federal government will lift its share of NSW school funding in a similar deal to a $2.5 billion agreement with Victoria five weeks ago, turning attention on Queensland as the last state to sign up to a national pact.
Labor is preparing the way for an election on April 12 after a policy blitz over the past week, unveiling a $2.6 billion boost to aged care on Monday night after promising more urgent care GP clinics and committing $8.5 billion to Medicare.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s education deal with NSW Premier Chris Minns follows a similar substantial funding deal with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
But the prime minister is reserving his options on the election date, given it could be held on May 3 or May 10 if Labor wants more time to recover ground with voters after a slide in support across most opinion polls over the past six months.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also signalled his plans for the campaign by saying he would announce more help for Australians as he stepped up his warnings about the impact on households from higher prices.
Albanese will unveil the school funding on Tuesday with a claim that it is linked to “real reform” to improve maths and literacy standards for 780,000 students across NSW public schools.
The NSW government will cite the funding deal as proof it can reach its targets to improve standards, claiming it has brought teacher vacancies down by 40 per cent and halved the number of cancelled classes.
“This investment is vital as we work to lift education standards across the state by ensuring there is a qualified, dedicated teacher at the front of the classroom,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said in a statement.
While the NSW funding deal is significantly higher than the Victorian agreement, federal officials said this reflected the fact that Victoria was at a different stage of meeting the Schooling Resource Standard that defines the funding. Officials said this did not mean Victoria received less per student than NSW.
Albanese is aiming to secure an agreement with Queensland in the hope of completing a national pact on public school standards at a cost of at least $13 billion.
The federal government is lifting its share of public school funding from 20 to 25 per cent across the board under the new agreements, although it offered 22.5 per cent in earlier negotiations. While Tasmania agreed to the initial offer of 22.5 per cent, it can also qualify for 25 per cent under continuing negotiations on the school standards.
One condition is that states and territories stop using a rule agreed several years ago to allow them to write off capital depreciation, seen as a “loophole” that trimmed their share of the funding. As a result, the new agreements see federal funding increasing by 5 per cent and state funding rising by 4 per cent.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the funding boost was “not a blank cheque” because it would be tied to commitments on outcomes such as proficiency in reading and numeracy, student attendance and the proportion of students leaving school with a Year 12 certificate.
“I want this money to get results. That’s why funding will be directly tied to reforms that we know work,” he said.
In a separate move to boost core services, the government is spending $2.6 billion to deliver a pay rise for 60,000 aged care nurses in line with a previous commitment to boost their pay.
The latest boost will take the government’s total commitment to $17.7 billion to ensure aged care workers received a pay increase.
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said on Monday this meant registered nurses working in aged care under the award would be $430 a week better off, and enrolled nurses would be $370 a week better off.
The government is yet to reveal the full impact of its spending promises after a flurry of announcements since the start of 2025.
A decision to hold the election on April 12 would cancel the budget scheduled for March 25, although the government could issue an economic statement instead.
Dutton announced $3 billion for F-35 jets on Sunday and matched the government’s $8.5 billion for Medicare last week, while signalling on Monday he would soon unveil his own cost-of-living policy.
“People are working hard. They want to know their taxpayer dollars are being spent effectively,” he said.
“I think they’re reasonable questions that are being asked, and we’ll have an announcement to make in relation to other areas in which we can support Australians in due course.”
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