Bill Shorten takes schools funding fight to NT public

BILL Shorten has accused the Northern Territory of not valuing education in its refusal to sign up to funding reforms after cutting its own schools budget.

EDUCATION Minister Bill Shorten has accused the Northern Territory government of not valuing education in its refusal to sign up to federal school funding reforms after cutting its own schools budget.

In an open letter to residents of the Northern Territory, Mr Shorten expresses his disappointment in the territory government failing to take up the commonwealth's offer of an extra $375m for schools over the next six years.

In the letter, Mr Shorten also rejects claims by Chief Minister Adam Giles that “40 per cent of the territory's students attend schools that get too much funding and need less”.

“This is just not true,” he says. “At the heart of our Better Schools Plan is funding aimed at delivering better individual attention based on the needs of children. That's why I am really disappointed the Northern Territory's Chief Minister has decided not to sign up.”

“Mr Giles' decision not to sign up to the Better Schools Plan, together with the territory government's $250 million cuts to education spending (announced in their last budget) make it clear they do not value school education.”

Mr Shorten wrote to Mr Giles last week withdrawing from negotiations after the NT government refused to commit an extra $131m over six years, after its budget cut of $250m over the next four years.

Mr Giles responded publicly by accusing Mr Shorten and Kevin Rudd of making “deceitful claims” and “false promises”, citing the example that Darwin High School and Palmerston Senior College were overfunded by $2m.

But Mr Shorten today said Darwin High School stood to gain an extra $3.7m over the next six years if the reforms were implemented.

To date, the governments in NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT have signed up to the reforms, which will also cover all Catholic and independent schools across the nation from next year.

Discussions are continuing with the Victorian government, which is hopeful of making a deal, and Mr Shorten yesterday met his Queensland counterpart, John-Paul Langbroek.

Mr Shorten today said negotiations with the Queensland government were “incredibly frustrating” and “going nowhere”.

“It is very disappointing but I can't see the LNP shifting before a federal election now,” he told reporters at a Catholic school in Brisbane.

“The LNP in Queensland is out of step with the prevailing majority opinion about what needs to be done to provide our kids with the best start in life.”

Once a federal election is called, the government will go into caretaker mode and unable to sign any new school funding agreements.