Not that it was particularly a surprise. In true Canberra spirit, we’re assuming the folks down in the big house have taken the post-it note with all six years of dollar-signs scribbled on it and filed it neatly away in the same cabinet as photos of the Australian black panther, Clive Palmer’s sanity certificate and Harold Holt’s swimming cap.

Of course, the final two years were never really a talking point for our current band of wise and graduated political leaders. 

While everyone was talking about the benefits of needs-based funding for schools to keep our younger cookies clever, our respected, educated political class were right in there—for the first four years, at least. 

Unfortunately, even at election time, if you asked a Coalition chap about the final two years, they might as well have casually wiped their mouth and muttered something non-descript like old ‘40s gangsters used to do when someone mentioned they hadn’t seen Johnny ‘The Nark’ Malone in a while.

To our public schools’ misfortune, it looks like our needs-based funding is sleeping with the fishes.

But, as we sometimes must do when dealing with our learned political class, we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. 

For most of the folks voting on this momentous decision in Canberra, their graduation dates were about as current as linoleum floors, halogen light bulbs, and arsenic building materials. 

Their school days have passed. What need have such educated colleagues of public school funding? 

Clearly, there are far too many important political jobs to do. Who has time for the trivial pursuits of health and education? There really should be ministers for that.

In any case, the future of our great nation, and their political careers, is secured. 

When it starts to go to pot, we’re sure the US will need another ambassador, and if they don’t there’s a bunch of other countries out there that might be hiring.