Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull eyes deal on Catholic schools

Malcolm Turnbull has seized control of the feud with Catholic schools after the breakdown in relations with Simon Birm­ingham.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: AAP

Malcolm Turnbull has seized control of the government’s feud with the politically powerful Catholic schools sector following the breakdown in relations with Education Minister Simon Birm­ingham, inching closer to a funding deal that would prevent the potential closure of up to 350 schools.

The Australian understands a deal to restore a funding shortfall of up to $1.7 billion for Catholic schools over the next decade is expected to be reached within weeks, with the Prime Minister facing calls by senior ministers to intervene after the ­Coalition’s by-election loss in Longman.

Mr Turnbull wrote to the archbishops of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on Friday agreeing to a second meeting to resolve the funding impasse and confirming that the Prime Minister’s Office would be engaging directly with the sector on the issue.

The breakthrough comes ahead of further discussions, which were due to be held today, between Senator Birmingham and Catholic school officials in Adelaide.

The Australian understands the Prime Minister has been ­appraised of modelling recently commissioned by the Catholic schools sector that found up to 350 schools across the ­nation, predominantly at primary level, could potentially face closure if the current Gonski 2.0 funding model was continued.

The push by Mr Turnbull to have the issue resolved follows an expenditure review committee meeting last month, which The Australian understands resolved that funding would be allocated to deal with the Catholic schools issue.

A government minister told The Australian that the Queensland Catholic school sector’s ­decision to campaign in the Longman by-election in support of Labor leader Bill Shorten’s ­promise to restore $250m in funding over the next two years should be an “alarm bell” for the government.

“This issue has to be resolved, and resolved quickly. It’s been dragging on now for a year,” the minister said.

It is understood that informal discussions were held between several Liberal Party state presidents at the party’s federal council meeting in Sydney last month, during which it was agreed that the Catholic school funding issue was becoming an electoral complication for the Coalition.

“Yes it was agreed that it was becoming a considerable problem,” a source at the federal council meeting told The Australian.

On July 19, Mr Turnbull met with Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher and newly ­appointed Melbourne archbishop-elect Peter Comensoli to address what the church leaders described as a “crisis” for Catholic schools.

In a letter sent to Archbishop Coleridge last Friday, Mr Turnbull is understood to have offered to open the government’s books to the Catholic sector’s auditing team, including all of its internal modelling, to allow both sides to have a basis for reaching an agreement.

The relationship between Senator Birmingham and the sector has deteriorated following accusations by the minister that Catholic officials had been lying about the funding levels.

Senator Birmingham was also forced to apologise for unknowingly using a religiously offensive reference in describing the Victorian Catholic schools sector.

A statement from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, issued following the first meeting with Mr Turnbull, welcomed the commitment by the Prime Minister to take the issue on ­personally.

Australian Minister for Education and Training Senator Simon Birmingham. Picture: AAP

Senator Birmingham has come under fierce internal criticism from colleagues for his failure to placate the Catholic school sector since announcing his funding ­reforms, dubbed Gonski 2.0, last May.

Catholic Education Melbourne at the time claimed that the package stripped $3.4bn from the public funding of Catholic schools over the next 10 years.

Various figures have since been used to quantify the cuts to spending growth for the Catholic schools, ranging from $1.8bn to $4.1bn over a decade.

Senator Birmingham has ­consistently denied systemic schools would be worse off under the new funding package, but has recently been forced to concede ground.

A review of the socio-­economic- status modelling formula was commissioned by Senator Birm­ingham last year in an attempt to pacify the sector.

A final report of the review, which was conducted by businessman Michael Chaney, was delivered to government last month and found that the funding model was flawed.

The Chaney report found that the SES model to allocate school funds was a poor determinant of need and recommended it be abandoned.

It is believed to have found that it had short-changed the Catholic schools sector by $1.8bn, while suggesting the independent schools had reaped a $2bn benefit.

The Catholic school sector’s ­argument is that low-fee Catholic schools serving lower income families are being punished under the SES model because of their ­location.

Senator Birmingham has promised to develop a new funding method that would see the Nat­ional School Resourcing Board use parental income rather than postcode demographics as a determinant of a particular school’s funding needs and parental capacity to pay.

But this system would not be implemented until 2020.

At the same time, the government is not expected to take any immediate funding away from ­independent schools for fear of ­igniting a new war, but could seek to transition it down over the longer term.