Turnbull learns to ‘persevere’ with his Gonski ‘good news’

The whiteboard word of the week in the Year 2 classroom visited by Malcolm Turnbull was ‘persevere’.

Malcolm Turnbull, with Education Minister Simon Birmingham, meets students at Strathfield North Public School in Sydney’s west yesterday. Picture: Toby Zerna

The whiteboard word of the week in the Year 2 classroom visited by Malcolm Turnbull was “persevere”.

The Prime Minister heeded the advice yesterday during his visit to Strathfield North Public School in Sydney’s west as he attempted to deflect a hostile Catholic education sector and other private schools to his government’s “Gonksi 2.0” funding model.

With Education Minister Simon Birmingham and local member Craig Laundy by his side, Mr Turnbull talked up the “big idea” of introducing a needs-based scheme for allocating federal funds to schools based on the 2011 Gonski report.

Confronted by protests that Mr Turnbull’s scheme reverses the Gillard government’s commitment that no school would be worse off, and NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes, normally a Liberal friend, flagging possible court action if agreed state funding were cut, Mr Turnbull handballed to Senator Birmingham. Yes, he said, the Gonksi 2.0 model did involve some “difficult decisions” but he insisted the negative impact would be minimal, and there was a “lot of exaggeration” in the complaints.

With report author David Gonski agreeing to oversee the spending of federal funds, Senator Birmingham said funding cuts of 1 to 2 per cent were anticipated for 24 schools.

It was “unsurprising” some who feared losing funds would protest, he said, but he had consulted widely across the school system. The revised Gonski scheme, even if it broke Labor’s pledge that no school would be worse off, was far better and more consistent than 27 different “sweetheart” deals negotiated by Julia Gillard.

Strathfield North stands to gain an extra $4.4 million over the next decade.

In the Year 2 classroom, Mr Turnbull sat with children, exchanged high fives and urged all to work hard at maths.

At a Year 5 visit, the Prime Minister asked children if they liked maths. Mr Turnbull certainly did. “Yes we do,” he said. Mr Laundy chimed in: “Especially at budget time.”