States reject Gillard's Gonski reforms

JULIA Gillard has failed to gain the agreement of any of the states for her Gonski school funding reforms.

130419 PM Gillard GONSKI

JULIA Gillard has failed to gain the agreement of any of the states for her Gonski school funding reforms, amid ongoing hostility towards the plan from Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said the plan was “centralist in approach, prescriptive and overly bureaucratic”, while WA Premier Colin Barnett said he was concerned his state would have to lift funding for independent and Catholic Schools.

All premiers and chief ministers agreed to continue negotiations on the proposal ahead of the Prime Minister's June 30 deadline.

“We will stay in the discussions,” Premier Barnett said. “But at the moment there is little to attract us.”

NT Chief Minister Adam Giles said this amounted to a “stay of execution”, as the funding required from the Territory government was unsustainable.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine and NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell were more positive about the proposal than their fellow Coalition premiers, but said there remained many details to work through.

“Ultimately there is more work to be done, with jurisdictions to examine the financial implications for each of their jurisdictions, and there will be ongoing bilateral discussions between jurisdictions and the commonwealth on those matters,” Dr Naphine said, in his capacity as COAG chairman.

The Prime Minister said she was determined to do a deal but declined to say whether the federal government would improve its offer.

“Of course there are always details to be worked through,” she said.

“We are talking about 9500 schools. We are talking about the population characteristics of the kids in those schools.

“We are talking about complicated fiscal questions for jurisdictions. We're talking about an agenda to improve every child's education in every school.”

Sources said the Prime Minister refused to negotiate on the detail of her plan, rebuffing concerns about funding levels and federal interference in state school systems.

COAG was also unable to reach agreement on a national plan to tackle gang violence, which was referred back to federal and state justice ministers for further work.

Meanwhile, Dr Napthine and South Australia's Jay Weatherill were unable to gain support for their proposal that all states enforce a buy-Australian policy when purchasing fleet vehicles.

However, agreement was reached on the issue of royal succession, with the states backing commonwealth legislation to remove the prohibition on a female or Catholic child becoming the British monarch.

Under the Gonski model, an extra $14.5 billion would be spent on schools, with the federal government to pay 75 per cent and the rest coming from the states.

Federal Labor also wants state education budgets to rise by three per cent a year, in return for a 4.7 per cent lift in federal money.

Labor-led Tasmania, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory all endorsed the Gonski plan but said more work was required on the detail.

It's understood Tasmania, like WA, believes the plan is overly generous in its treatment of private schools.

Earlier, Mr Newman and Mr Barnett accused Ms Gillard of trying to control state schools from Canberra.

“I think many of the principals and teachers would be appalled if they knew that a huge new bureaucracy was being created, and a huge amount of very prescriptive reporting and bureaucratic form-filling was required,” Mr Newman said.

Mr Barnett said the level of funding proposed was “an insult” to Western Australia, offering just $7 million to the state in the first year.

He said it would mean state funding would flow to private schools.

“I will not divert funding from state education away to independent and Catholic schools. That will not happen,” Mr Barnett said.