Australia's first national inquiry into public school infrastructure was launched on 3 March 2026, marking an acknowledgement of a crisis that has quietly worsened for years. The inquiry, called Schools For Our Future, will examine the current state of facilities across every state and territory, assess future needs, and recommend long-term funding and policy reforms to deliver genuinely future-ready schools in every community.
The inquiry is chaired by Sharan Burrow AC, former president of both the Australian Education Union and the ACTU, with Maurie Mulheron as deputy chair. Over the coming months, they will consult with principals, teachers, education support staff, families, governments and community organisations, including representatives of Aboriginal communities, Torres Strait Islander communities, students with disability, and rural and remote Australians.
The numbers driving the inquiry paint a stark picture. Over the past decade, private schools have outspent public schools on capital works by $38 billion, including $5.4 billion in 2023 alone. Capital investment in private schools averaged $2,746 per student per year between 2014 and 2023, compared with just $1,237 per student in public schools. In 2023, only 46 per cent of total school infrastructure expenditure went to public schools, despite them educating 64 per cent of all Australian students.
This is not a problem of ageing buildings simply needing refresh. Australian principals estimate an additional 14,000 permanent classrooms will be needed in public schools by 2030 to accommodate rising student enrolments. Instead, over 20,000 demountable buildings currently serve as temporary classrooms across Australian public schools. Many of these temporary structures were installed in the 1960s and were never meant to be permanent. The longer-term infrastructure shortfall reflects a policy choice made in 2017, when the Commonwealth ceased long-term capital funding for public school infrastructure.
The Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which came into effect on 1 January 2025, provides additional recurrent funding for public schools through to 2034. However, it does not address capital investment in new buildings and major repairs. States and territories must themselves find the billions needed to modernise ageing facilities and build the classrooms the system requires.
The Schools For Our Future inquiry is designed to make the case for change and to chart what genuine equity in school infrastructure might look like. For families in under-resourced public schools, and for teachers working in outdated or overcrowded facilities, the timing of the inquiry reflects a long-overdue recognition that how we fund school buildings matters to learning outcomes and to who gets left behind.
Public submissions to the inquiry are open. Details are available at schoolsforourfuture.org.au.