Turnbull, Birmingham fail in Catholic school funding mess

The sense of frustration in the Liberal Party over Catholic school funding is profound.

Federal Minister for Education Simon Birmingham. Picture: AAP

This is how bad it has come for Simon Birmingham and Malcolm Turnbull.

They are being disowned by a cross-factional group of political colleagues in the state that is meant to be the Liberal Party’s jewel in the crown.

Matthew Guy’s Victorian opposition comes to this position with deep angst and some reluctance.

There has been a relentless internal debate during the past year about the Education Minister’s schools funding policy and how to confront the politics of igniting a funding war with the Catholic sector.

Victoria is arguably the most tribal of all Catholic states, many of its people still hanging on to the desire to educate their children in church schools. Nowhere is this more the case than Ballarat, where more affordable Catholic schooling options sit next to some very wealthy and successful independents.

For a good year, Liberals have been warning of a backlash on the streets of western Victoria, where the cost of living is a key issue. Some voters are spooked by the threat of higher fees and will vote accordingly.

The trouble is that it has probably taken the opposition too long to address the issue, which is much wider than just the state seat of Buninyong.

Nearly a year ago, a senior federal minister told The Australian that the Catholic funding question would resolve itself because “Birmo is throwing a stack of money at it’’.

Problem is, Birmo had actually totally cocked up the socio-economic status funding formula and cabinet was too slow to hear the jungle drum beats in their electorates.

State oppposition education spokesman Tim Smith has had a thumping crack at the Turnbull government, drawing on the caustic words of Malcolm Tucker in the BBC’s The Thick of It.

It shows just how desperate the issue is for the Liberals in Victoria. Just over three months before a cost-of-living and growing-pains state election is to be fought, he’s had to throw a bucket of Tucker at Birmingham and Turnbull in an attempt to force a policy response.

The sense of frustration across the party is profound.