Dan Tehan admits NSW has ability to disrupt school funding deal with Catholic schools

Education Minister Dan Tehan admits NSW has the ability to disrupt a new school funding deal with Catholic and independent schools.

Minister for Education Dan Tehan.

The NSW government has the ability to disrupt a new school funding deal with Catholic and independent schools but school kids should not “pay the price for our discussions,” Education Minister Dan Tehan says.

Mr Tehan told ABC’s Insiders he is “hopeful” he and NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes will be able to meet in person later this week to work through issues with the new $4.5 billion deal for the Catholics.

Mr Stokes has said he would not sign a deal that doesn’t treat every student equally.

“They could (stop the plan) if they want, we pay our share of school funding through the NSW state government,” Mr Tehan said this morning.

“I will sit down with Rob and explain to him we do have record funding going to state schools. We will have a civilised discussion and I will point out the facts. I don’t know a state or territory government that doesn’t want more money for one thing or another.”

.@DanTehanWannon tells @barriecassidy he's hopeful of meeting up with NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes this week and "I'm very confident that we'll get an outcome" #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/gJgK5ghciZ

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) September 22, 2018

Mr Tehan said a Labor state government has been in touch to say they are looking forward to inking a deal.

“What we have done is acted on the recommendations that were made by Michael Chaney in his review of school resourcing,” he said.

“He was presented with a policy problem because David Gonski pointed out in 2011 that you could work out a more direct model.”

That model will now use de-identified tax records to calculate the level of funding for schools.

On the issue of free speech on university campuses, Mr Tehan conceded he doesn’t know how he would enforce a measure to make protesters pay the security bills for people “trying to hold peaceful events on campus.”

“If there is a way of doing this, then that is something I want to do,” he said.

“If the cost goes on those holding peaceful events then they (protesters) have a weapon that they can use which is to drive up the security costs for others.”

.@DanTehanWannon tells @barriecassidy about why he's considering making demonstrators who disrupt events on university campuses pay some of the security costs #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/R3cQVRYtbI

— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) September 22, 2018