Schools in Orange have been looked after by their Nationals representation during the Gonski school funding roll-out.
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In a Sydney Morning Herald analysis, Nationals’ electorates – including those covering Orange, Bathurst and Dubbo – were among the biggest winners in the first years of Gonski funding.
Since the Gonski needs-based funding began in 2014, the federal seat of Calare received $16.17 million under its representatives John Cobb and Andrew Gee.
It was the 10th highest out of 47 federal electorates in NSW, while the Riverina was 11th with $15.40 million.
However, Mark Coulton’s federal seat of Parkes, which includes Dubbo, had the highest level of funding with $29.62 million.
When it came to state funding levels, the seat of Orange held by Phil Donato from the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party had $8 million in funding, $3 million more than the next highest funded electorate not represented by the Coalition or Labor.
However, the majority of that Orange funding would have been made before Mr Donato’s November 2016 byelection victory, and was equal to the $8 million given to Local Government minister Paul Toole’s seat of Bathurst.
Once again Dubbo, held by former deputy premier Troy Grant, had the lion’s share of funding with $11 million, the fourth highest funded state electorate.
NSW Education Minister and Nationals member Adrian Piccoli said Gonski was designed to go to areas of highest need to make up for historical under-funding, which particularly affected regional areas.
“The biggest issue in regional NSW is not that there's not enough brands of shotguns to buy or the backpacker tax, it's that our children are under-performing at school,” he said.
“Juvenile detention centres are not filled with kids who went to Riverview and Kings. They're generally from disadvantaged communities that are now the big beneficiaries of Gonski.”
The revelation comes as a deadline for finding a new funding deal looms, with no certainty for schools over how funds will be distributed from next January.
The federal government is planning to slash by about $3 billion the money for the final two years of Gonski from 2018, but faces a hostile Senate and a fight with states, including New South Wales.
A new deal must be reached before the May budget