Tehan’s job: win back the Catholic schools vote

Scott Morrison has put Catholic-educated Dan Tehan in charge of repairing the rift with the powerful Catholic schools sector.

The new minister Dan Tehan, was educated at a Catholic primary school and a public high school in regional Victoria, before boarding at one of the church’s top high schools, Xavier College in Melbourne. Picture: Kym Smith

Scott Morrison has put Catholic-educated Dan Tehan in charge of repairing the government’s damaging rift with the powerful Catholic schools sector to avoid an electoral backlash.

Mr Tehan becomes the Education Minister, replacing Simon Birmingham, who lost the confidence of the Catholic hierarchy while spearheading the government’s Gonski 2.0 school funding reforms.

Mr Tehan, a Victorian MP, ­already has a good personal relationship with one of the key figures in the dispute, Catholic Education Victoria chief Stephen Elder, who served in the Kennett government with Mr Tehan’s mother, Marie Tehan.

The new minister, who ­describes himself as “an imperfect Catholic”, was educated at a Catholic primary school and a public high school in regional Victoria, before boarding at one of the church’s top high schools, Xavier College in Melbourne.

Mr Tehan told The Australian he was honoured to take on the key ministry and hoped to secure an agreement soon to implement the difficult reform package.

“As I have in all my roles, I will listen, consult and seek outcomes which are in the best interests of all Australians,” he said.

Mr Elder welcomed Mr Tehan’s appointment, noting he had already served in the “complex and often sensitive portfolios” of social services and veterans ­affairs — “portfolios that require both a listener and a doer”.

“As a member of the House of Representatives and regional MP he is well aware of the need of speaking to and engaging with his constituency,” Mr Elder said. “Mr Tehan will also recognise the challenges of providing parental choice in education outside the capital cities.”

The acting executive director of the National Catholic Education Commission, Ray Collins, said he also looked forward to working with Mr Tehan. “We trust he will be an inclusive and consultative minister who recognises and ­respects the critical role played by the non-government schools sector, which educates one in three Australian children,’’ he said.

The Prime Minister said Mr Tehan would get to work straight away and “I hope to get a resolution before not too long”.

Senator Birmingham had come under fierce criticism from colleagues for his failure to placate the Catholic school sector since announcing Gonski 2.0 reforms in May. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull recently took control of the negotiations, offering a deal to restore a funding shortfall of up to $1.7 billion.

However, the sector still has objections to the detail of the plan, while independent schools also say they will be disadvantaged.

Senator Birmingham told the ABC’s Insiders yesterday he had been having “really productive discussions” with the Catholic sector, which had raised “some legitimate concerns”. Catholics had claimed Gonski 2.0 would cost their schools up to $4.1 billion over a decade.