Federal education minister banned from Queensland schools Federal Education Minister Peter Garrett. Photo: Luis Enrique Escui Federal education minister Peter Garrett has been banned from visiting Queensland schools, with the Newman government saying it will not allow kids to be used as "props in a political campaign." And Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett has pulled the plug on a fundraising event at which Prime Minister Julia Gillard was due to appear. Mr Garrett was intending to visit Nyanda State High School and Yeronga State School in Brisbane's south on Wednesday. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Federal Education Minister Peter Garrett. Both schools have been earmarked for closure by the Newman government because of low attendance rates. On Tuesday night, however, the office of Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek sent Mr Garrett an email informing him he was not welcome at the two schools. It is the latest salvo in a bitter dispute sparked by Queensland's refusal to sign up to the federal government's school funding reforms. Queensland insists some of its schools will be worse off under the Gonski plan. A spokeswoman for Mr Langbroek said the decision was made after Ms Gillard visited a primary school in Bracken Ridge and ""did nothing but criticise the government"." ""We have had enough of Queensland schoolchildren being used by the Federal Government as props in a political campaign,"" she said. ""We will not allow Queensland schools to be the venue for the Gonski media roadshow. If the federal minister wants to come to Queensland and discuss Gonski, he is welcome to make time to meet Minister Langbroek."" But the ban has not been extended to Senator Stephen Conroy who is due to speak at the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries this week or Labor's former speaker Harry Jenkins who will speak at MacGregor State High School. The federal government has offered Queensland almost $2.5 billion over six years under the Gonski reform package if the state chips in $1.3 billion and increases education funding by 3 per cent every year. Queensland has only 18 days left to sign up to the education reforms proposed by businessman David Gonski who led a review. In a scathing letter to Ms Gillard earlier this month, Premier Campbell Newman said it was ""increasingly unlikely"" an agreement could be reached by the June 30 deadline because of the federal government's lack of understand and funding uncertainty. Meanwhile, Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett has cancelled a Labor fundraising event that was to be hosted by British comedian Ben Elton at a Perth school hall. Ms Gillard was due to quizzed by the comedian at the event that would have been filmed by Channel 7. ""The decision by the WA government to pressure the principal and cancel this venue hire is extraordinary political intervention. And it's a cheap shot,"" a spokesman for the Prime Minister said. The spokesman said the hall at the John Curtin School of the Arts was regularly rented out for commercial purposes. The Labor Party is considering legal action against the WA government.