Newman boycotts education inquiry

QUEENSLAND has boycotted the Gillard government's Gonski parliamentary process.

QUEENSLAND has boycotted the Gillard government's Gonski parliamentary process, declaring its "implacable" opposition to the school funding changes and describing the negotiations as an "outrage".

Premier Campbell Newman told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education that the Liberal National Party government would not provide a submission to its hearings, due next week, citing a lack of time for consideration of the massive policy changes.

In a letter to the committee obtained by The Weekend Australian, Mr Newman said the "huge expansion" of the regulatory reach of the federal government into state education "will sap revenue and energy from the task we all share of improving education".

"Queensland does not support the federal government having the right to determine how and on what basis the Queensland government may fund our state schools," he said.

On the day Julia Gillard celebrated South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill's agreement to her six-year Gonski education funding changes, Queensland made its clearest declaration that it would not be signing before the Prime Minister's June 30 deadline.

Given this tight deadline, the parliamentary committee can consider the legislation only briefly and has given interested parties six days to make submissions on the multi-billion-dollar changes.

In his letter, Mr Newman says: "The Queensland government is disappointed at the way the federal government has negotiated school funding reforms. The fact your committee received a reference for an inquiry on June 5, which allows only one week to consider the bill, speaks volumes about this federal government.

"It does not want to properly consider the implications of its far-reaching proposals, or work co-operatively with the states and territories on them."

Mr Newman said the federal government, as a minority funder of schools in the state, had no right to demand Queensland implement its plans.

"This regulatory reach undermines the independence of all non-government schools and the foundations of parental choice in education, which allow schools and school systems to manage their future to meet their own needs," he said. "Queensland remains implacably opposed to the reforms proposed by the federal government."