Gonski 2.0 gets the go ahead

Education Minister Simon Birmingham and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull were relieved to announce the news of the new Gonski model being passed in the Senate after debating the Bill until late into the night.

The Gonski 2.0 plan passed with the support of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, the Nick Xenophon Team and crossbench Senators Derryn Hinch, Jacqui Lambie and Lucy Gichuhi 34 votes to 31.

Despite achieving some of the changes they were aiming for, the Greens were divided in their support for the Bill.

In order to win over the crossbench, Birmingham agreed to spend an extra $5 billion, on top of the additional $18.6 already announced and will roll out the funding over six years instead of 10.

"It’s good news for schools right around the country who are going to see around a $2300 per student increase on average, but that going of course fastest into the schools who need it most, into the schools who got the worst deals in the past. Particularly those in the public sector who on average are going to see growth of around 6.4 per cent per student per annum, but getting up to 10 percent and above in some cases," said Birmingham.

The Independent Schools Council of Australia has welcomed the announcement in a statement and are also happy with the subsequent change of the move from a ten-year to six-year transition rate.

The Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia has also welcomed the news and hopes the Government will continue to listen to their views during the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools, to be chaired by David Gonski AC.

National Catholic Education Commission released a statement saying they "are bitterly disappointed that the Federal Government has imposed a flawed funding policy" and described it as "a rushed process to overhaul school funding" "with Education Minister Simon Birmingham doing a range of special deals with cross-bench Senators."

Turnbull maintains that there is a very substantial increase in funding going to the Catholic Schools and they have received support from many Catholic school Principals and families. 

"If you think about the values of Catholic education, fundamental to that is fairness. Catholic social justice speaks to fairness. And what we’re doing here is ensuring that all schools, whatever their denomination or affiliation, are treated on the basis of needs," Turnbull said in an interview with 2GB.