Barry O'Farrell drafted by Julia Gillard to wedge Tony Abbott

JULIA Gillard has seized on comments by NSW Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell to attack the federal opposition over school reform.

JULIA Gillard has seized on comments by NSW Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell to attack the federal opposition over school reform and to pressure the states and territories to sign up to her government's proposals.

Mr O'Farrell yesterday publicly stated support for Labor's education reforms, as well as for a possible increase in the GST, allowing the Prime Minister to drive a political wedge between him and his federal counterpart, Tony Abbott.

Mr O'Farrell's comments showed it was possible to "be a Liberal leader and not be a wrecker", Ms Gillard said.

The Prime Minister said the cost to schools of failing to implement Labor's National Plan for School Improvement, also known as the Gonski reforms, would be more than $16 billion nationally. She attacked the federal Opposition Leader for trying to talk other conservative states out of signing up to the agreement.

"I've been able to work with Liberal leaders, I've been able to work for example with Premier O'Farrell, to seize a better vision for our kids' future," she said.

"I think Premier O'Farrell proved that you can be a Liberal leader and not be a wrecker. I think it was very hard for Premier O'Farrell, absolutely, because he was under extraordinary pressure from the Leader of the Opposition to not sign up."

Earlier in the day, Mr O'Farrell had told Sky News's Australian Agenda that the funding system had to be changed.

"I think that any incoming government is going to understand that the existing funding formula is broken. It's unfair. It's unfair to people with disabilities. It's unfair to people who have special learning needs.

"What I'm saying is that I think whoever is in government after September will understand that there's unfairness and a lack of resources in our funding system for schools across the country. We need to address that."

He said Mr Abbott had met him to ask NSW to keep out of any Gonski deal. "Tony Abbott came and saw me whilst we were in the midst of cabinet discussions around whether or not we'd sign up to the Gonski reforms," Mr O'Farrell said. "He made clear his view that the system wasn't broken, that the agreement shouldn't be entered into, but I made clear . . . what the cabinet would do in NSW."

Mr O'Farrell also declared his support for broadening the base and increasing the rate of the GST as part of the federal Coalition's tax reform agenda, opening another avenue of attack for Ms Gillard.

The Prime Minister released figures yesterday showing the potential cost to schools of not signing up to the Gonski reforms. Mr Abbott, in his budget reply speech, said a Coalition government would not support the reforms unless it had the backing of all the states.

According to the figures released yesterday by Labor, schools would miss out on $16.2 billion in state and federal funding over the next six years if the Gonski reforms were not accepted.

This figure represents $9.8bn in federal funding, plus the end of national partnership programs and state government funding which is indexed-linked to federal spending.

Northern Territory, Tasmanian and Queensland schools stood to lose the most, according to the government's figures.

An average NT government school would lose $4.2 million over six years, a Tasmanian school would lose $2.6m while an average non-government school in Queensland would lose about $2.5m.

In NSW, each state school would lose about $1.7m on average over that time, and each non-government school would lose about $800,000.

The equivalent figures in Victoria are $1.9m for each state school over six years, and $1.7m on average for each non-government school.

"These are average figures but they will serve to give parents and local communities a greater understanding of what is at risk," Ms Gillard said.

"Australians have a right to understand the clear difference here, including getting a sense about what it means for their child's school."

Opposition education spokesman Chris Pyne told The Australian he did not agree with the indexation assumptions contained within the government's figures.

"Gillard is so desperate she is prepared to use the future of little school kids to win the election," he said.

"Facts are, the government's assumption of 3 per cent indexation bears no resemblance to the average indexation over 10 years of 6 per cent.

"She is just making up figures as she goes along."

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said Ms Gillard's figures were also unlikely to impress his government, whose schools will receive less money from the reforms than those in other states and territories.

On average, the Prime Minister said, state schools in WA will lose $100,000 per year over the six years if the Gonski reforms do not go ahead, while non-government schools will lose $2.3m each over the same period.

"As it stands the Gonski proposal is not attractive to WA - these figures, if anything, only serve to highlight this fact," Mr Barnett said.

"Tony Abbott has never sought to influence the states on this matter. As with the NDIS, Mr Abbott has left the decision entirely with WA as to whether this is in the state's best interests."

Ms Gillard said her government's figures "show what's at risk for Western Australian schools . . . money that we want to invest in them," she said.

States and territories have until June 30 to sign up to the Gonski reforms, at which point the Coalition will "finalise" its position. To date, only NSW has formally agreed to sign up to the agreement.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said the government had failed to make a compelling case for reform and that the funding model was not well understood.

"I don't know what Gonski looks like, what the whole education plan looks like," he said.

Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon said the government would always negotiate in "good faith". A government spokesman would not be drawn on whether a decision had been reached.

The Labor state governments in both Tasmania and South Australia said they were trying to negotiate a better deal.

"We are continuing to negotiate with the commonwealth about the details of the arrangements," South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said yesterday.

Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Michelle Green has written to the Prime Minister to question the government's figures on school funding.

Only about $2.8bn of spending for the National Plan for School Improvement had been confirmed by the government before 2018, Ms Green said. "To help find the $2.8bn, the government has cancelled five National Partnership programs that produce $2.1bn through to 2016-17, or 75 per cent of NPSI funding.

"That means, at most, only $0.7bn of the NPSI funds appears to be new funding," she said.

Additional reporting: Chip Le Grand, Mark Schliebs, Michael McKenna