Queensland Premier Campbell Newman refuses to sign up to Gonski reforms, saying more work is needed Premier Campbell Newman has told a senate committee more work was needed on the Gonski reforms before he would sign up. Picture: Tom Lee Source: News Limited A DEAL between the State and Commonwealth governments on Gonski appears unlikely with Premier Campbell Newman telling a Senate committee he cannot commit to the reforms as they currently stand. In a submission to the senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committees, Mr Newman said more work needed to be done. The Queensland Government will not support the Bills in their present form as they amount to a de facto Federal Government takeover of schooling," Mr Newman wrote in the submission, which comes after he penned a letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard outlining changes needed before Queensland would sign up. Such an outcome will not enhance accountability for educational outcomes, but will lead to even more bureaucracy, more filling out of forms for principals and teachers, and less freedom for our schools to address the rapid economic and social changes of the 21st century. Mr Newman lashed the committees for not giving him a longer period in which to respond and said the Gonski Bills needed a rethink, labelling it an "outrage." The funding system proposed in the Bills is not one that provides significant additional funding to Queensland on a two-for-one basis as claimed by the Prime Minister," he said. It actually requires greater additional funding from Queensland than that provided by the Federal Government. He again urged senators to vote against the Australian Education Bill 2013. Yesterday Independent Schools Queensland executive director David Robertson also raised concerns about the Gonski deal, warning figures revealed in The Courier-Mail were less than ISQ had anticipated. "Independent schools have rightly had an expectation from previous Federal Government announcements that schools would be substantially better off under the new funding model," Mr Robertson said. The figures announced today suggest that Queensland's independent schools will receive additional funding of $258 million over six years under the Gonski reforms. This equates to just $370 each year per student, including indexation of funding over the six-year period.