Outgoing Labor Senator Jacinta Collins to take over running the National Catholic Education Commission

Outgoing Labor Senator Jacinta Collins will take over running the peak body for the influential Catholic education sector.

Outgoing Labor Senator Jacinta Collins. Picture: Gary Ramage

Outgoing Labor Senator Jacinta Collins is set to take over running the peak body for the influential Catholic education sector next week, with her appointment to be confirmed tomorrow.

National Catholic Education Commission chairman Greg Crafter is expected to make the announcement on Friday morning.

It follows Senator Collins valedictory speech to the Senate this evening.

The NCEC did not respond to requests for comment but it is understood that the politician and one-time union delegate was selected for the role due to her strong credentials in education and social services, having previously served as Parliamentary Secretary for School Education as well as Minister for Mental Health and Ageing.

Her appointment, which was flagged in The Australian’s Margin Call column last month, will see her in charge of almost 1800 schools and more than 750,000 students.

Having come to politics more than two decades ago, Senator Collins has recently been a strong defender of religious schools. In October she told the Senate to “respect the right of religious schools to be run in accordance with their beliefs”. She was also a resolute advocate of the deal that pumped $4.6 billion more funding into the Catholic school sector last year. The deal, while controversial, corrected a longstanding funding bias in the system and brought an end to the corrosive public battle between the government and the Catholic sector, which educates about one-quarter of Australia’s students.

Senator Collins takes over from the NCEC’s acting executive director Ray Collins, who is retiring.

Senator Collins has been contacted for comment.