The agreement, confirmed by Premier Ben Carroll and Education Minister Gabrielle Williams, commits Victoria to meeting the School Resource Standard (SRS), the minimum funding level established by the 2012 Gonski review. It runs until 2034, with Victoria contributing $13.6 billion and the Commonwealth $2.5 billion over its life.
The deal settles a commitment Victoria had previously delayed. The Age reported last year that the state government had secretly pushed back its promise to meet the SRS from 2028 to 2031, denying public schools access to $2.4 billion and leaving both governments on transitional, yearly funding agreements.
Most of the additional funding will flow from 2029, with the deal heavily back-ended. Commonwealth funding reaches 25 per cent in 2034, similar to its agreement with New South Wales. Williams said the agreement included a unique provision to bring funding forward to 2029, if Victoria can reach its 75 per cent share of the SRS earlier. "We are and will continue to aggressively seek the sorts of budget efficiencies which will enable us to continue to prioritise frontline services," she said.
Justin Mullaly, president of the Australian Education Union's Victorian branch, welcomed the certainty and billions in extra funding but criticised the delay. "The delay in signing and the decision to back-end the deal, will shortchange Victorian public schools by hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few years," he said. "Funding delays have real consequences, and this needs to be addressed."
Carroll will on Thursday announce $139.5 million over four years for the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC), the Victorian Ombudsman and Integrity Oversight Victoria. The money is locked in and not an election commitment. It follows reforms passed last month granting IBAC broader jurisdiction, more frequent public hearings and "follow-the-money" powers to investigate businesses that receive public money.
"We've strengthened IBAC's powers, now we're providing an immediate uplift in their resources to stamp out corruption," Special Minister of State Ingrid Stitt said. The reforms come after Labor was dogged by allegations of corruption on taxpayer-funded construction sites. IBAC and the Ombudsman earlier this year warned they may have to shelve investigations and cut staff after being under-resourced. Integrity advocates, the Greens and former IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich have previously called for IBAC's budget to be set by parliament rather than the government.