_Australia’s wealthiest private schools continue receiving public funding despite mounting budget pressures, raising questions about whether government spending on education reflects need and the broader public interest.

“When I read that $800 toothbrushes are selling out, I wonder if times are as tough as we are led to believe”.

This odd statement from a recent letter to the Sydney Morning Herald struck a chord. When economists warn about global economic turmoil and a perfect storm of debt, it is tempting to seize on any sign that this alarm may be overblown.

The federal Treasurer deserves credit for the way he spells out the pressures on the Budget and the need for savings. In these circumstances, however, I admit to having my own version of the “$800 toothbrush”: the fact that our governments go on providing the annual windfall of millions of dollars to high-fee, high-resource private schools that do not need it.

This tempts me to tell myself that it will be time enough to worry when governments decide things have got so tough that they can no longer afford this rort.

Australia is one of the only countries (if not the only one) with no limit to the private income and wealth a private school can amass while remaining entitled to public funding.

This dates back to a political ambush in 1973.  To secure recurrent funding for the Catholic and public schools most students attended, the Whitlam government was forced by the then Country Party to extend public funding to the small number of high-fee, mostly Protestant, schools.

Despite........

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