Napthine warned $4bn funds at risk

VICTORIA'S threat to snub Julia Gillard's June 30 deadline for the Gonski education reform deal has prompted a stern warning.

VICTORIA'S threat to snub Julia Gillard's June 30 deadline for the Gonski education reform deal has prompted a stern warning that the state risks missing out on the $4 billion funding package.

The Prime Minister has written to Victorian Premier Denis Napthine saying the deadline is non-negotiable.

This was after Dr Napthine said yesterday that if Victoria failed to negotiate a deal with the commonwealth before the election, he was prepared to wait until a new government was elected.

Dr Napthine did not believe the deadline at the end of the month was binding and said he would not be signing up to any arrangement that left the state worse off.

Ms Gillard accused him of stalling for months on the issue of better funds for schools and called for an end to "doorstop diplomacy". In a terse letter, she wrote: "Your prevarication increasingly looks like straightforward opposition to a better deal for Victorian kids.

"The clock is ticking, please pick up the phone."

Dr Napthine's threats yesterday amount to the latest signal that Victoria is the key sticking point to a uniform national deal.

He blamed a lack of secure funding in the forward estimates for the broad education system for holding back negotiations.

This, he said, ranged from early childcare and kindergarten funding through to providing for universities.

Asked about the deadline, Dr Napthine said: "Well, there is no real deadline. We should negotiate up until the time that there is an election called in terms of the writs being issued."

June 30 has been widely understood to be the cut-off for signing up to the Gonski reforms.

By broadening the debate into all levels of education funding, Dr Napthine is creating a challenge for the commonwealth that it may not be prepared to meet.

The Weekend Australian revealed that Ms Gillard would claim the moral authority on the deal even if she fails to get Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia on board.

This would be on the understanding that nearly 60 per cent of the nation's schoolchildren would be covered with the backing of NSW and the ACT and the anticipated support of Tasmania and South Australia.

Ms Gillard has been planning for education to form a centrepiece of her bid for re-election, despite there being deep confusion in the electorate about what it means and political scepticism about a seamless agenda ever being achieved.

The National Catholic Education Commission last week condemned the government's legislative response to the Gonski reforms and called on the government to rule out direct ministerial intervention.

However, Ms Gillard has insisted there is "no potential for interference".

Dr Napthine said funding was key to his concerns, including what he said was a lack of agreement for long-term funding for early childhood funding and kindergarten.