Matthew Knott is the education and Senate correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Parliament House
Federal Greens MPs have launched an extraordinary attack on their colleague Lee Rhiannon, accusing the divisive senator of betraying them by attempting to derail the party's school funding negotiations with the Turnbull government.
Compromise and brinkmanship helped Gonski 2.0 survive the turbulent Senate crossbench.
The government will pump an extra $23.5 billion into the nation's schools over 10 years than it promised in last year's budget.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham says he makes no apologies for new rules compelling state governments to significantly increase their school spending after the Turnbull government's "Gonski 2.0" passed Parliament in the early hours of Friday morning.
The Turnbull government has locked in the numbers for a stunning victory on its Gonski 2.0 school funding package by agreeing to fast-track its spending plan and pump an extra $5 billion into the nation's schools.
One of Australia's most senior Catholic clerics has stepped in to the war over school funding.
The Turnbull government has buckled to demands from conservative MPs to delay the introduction of less-generous funding arrangements for Catholic schools, after insisting it would wipe out the "special deals" created by the previous Labor government.
The Turnbull government's progress towards a historic victory on its new Gonski 2.0 school funding model threatens to be derailed by an internal rebellion from conservative MPs furious about a $4.6 billion hit to Catholic schools.
Former NSW education minister Adrian Piccoli – one of the strongest champions of the original Gonski agreements – has broken ranks with his own government to support the Turnbull government's new school funding model.
The transfer of taxpayer money from Catholic schools to public schools under 'Gonski 2.0' has been exposed in secret data ahead of this week's vote.
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