Teachers to target key Coalition seats in funding cuts war

The powerful teachers’ union has declared war on the government over public school funding cuts.

Attorney-General Christian Porter is among 18 federal MPs who will be singled out in the teacher’s campaign. Picture: AAP

The powerful teachers’ union has declared war on the Turnbull government, promising to turn the might of its 187,000 members against politicians in marginal seats in a bid to restore funding it claims the Coalition has stripped from public schools.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Attorney-General Christian Porter and Aged Care and ­Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt are among 18 federal MPs who will be singled out as part of what the Australian Education Union describes as a “once-in-a-generation” campaign to overhaul funding for schools.

To be launched in Canberra on Tuesday, the multimillion-dollar Fair Funding Now campaign will cement education funding as a key battleground at the next election.

NSW Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron, who sits on the AEU executive, said the government’s decision to abandon the original Gonski deal, which was a hallmark of the previous ­Gillard government, meant it could not be trusted to deliver fair funding for public schools.

“We’ll fight this to the bitter end right up to the next federal election,” Mr Mulheron told The Australian ahead of the launch, which is expected to be attended by Labor leader Bill Shorten, Opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek and Greens leader Richard Di Natale.

“We’ll target Coalition MPs who have reneged on their commitment and let Australian children down.

“And we’ll commit to ... getting people elected who are committed to fair funding.”

The campaign, which promises to eclipse the union’s highly visible “I Give a Gonski” agenda that ran before the 2016 election, comes as Education Minister Simon Birmingham is under attack from the Catholic education sector, which accuses the government of short-changing its schools by $1 billion.

The federal government announced its overhaul to school funding last year, promising an ­additional $25.3bn over 10 years, taking total federal school funding to $249.8bn.

But Labor and the unions say the package amounted to a $17bn cut to funding when compared with what was promised under Gonski. That package, however, was never fully funded. Mr Shorten has promised the Catholic sector it will be $250m better off over two years under Labor.

A list of electorates that the AEU plans to target, which was circulated yesterday, includes Mr Dutton’s seat of Dickson in Queensland and Mr Porter’s seat of Pearce in Western Australia. Other seats include those held by Victorian MPs Julia Banks, Jason Wood and Sarah Henderson, NSW MPs Lucy Wicks and David Coleman and Queensland’s Warren Entsch.

Nationals Kevin Hogan, Ken O’Dowd and Michelle Landry will also be subjected to what the AEU is describing as “targeted action”, which will include doorknocking and phone banks.

Polling conducted by the union in those areas suggested that 83 per cent of respondents rated public education funding as an ­important factor in deciding their vote and 72 per cent felt that federal funding was too low.

Ms Plibersek, who will attend the launch, said Labor would stand with the AEU against the Coalition cuts, which will “hit public schools hardest”.