Governments need to be clearer about bringing the Brindabella saga to a conclusion

The net is closing around the board of Brindabella Christian College.

In an experience that can be likened to grasping at shadows, yesterday (27 February) in Senate Estimates it was revealed that the federal Education Department moved to shut the school down last month.

In the tortuous language of bureaucracy, department official Meg Brighton told Senator David Pocock that the department delegate had issued a notice to the board of Brindabella Christian Education Ltd that it was commencing revocation of its status as the approved authority for BCC.

In other words, no funding. Game over.

That was news to Senator Pocock, the media that have been obsessed with this almost daily soap opera, the school reform group that has been battling the board over its governance and financial shortcomings, and least, but not last, the staff, students and parents who have the most to lose if Brindabella goes under.

A week out from the 7 March deadline and it took questioning from Senator Pocock for the department to show its hand.

Interestingly, a similar question from Region yesterday morning about regulatory action to the department failed to elicit that response.

So while ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry was reassuring the school that she was not going to cancel its registration, the Feds had already acted.

Did she know? We did ask, but Ms Berry is keeping mum until the deadline of her own show cause notice expires on 6 March.

But the leviathan lurking in the background, the Tax Office, may be, in the end, the one to swallow Brindabella in a bid to recoup an $8 million-and-counting debt.

Ms Berry might prefer it if the Feds take matters into their own hands, so reluctant has she been to do anything about Brindabella, or at least the board.

With a nearly $1 million monthly payment being made a little more than a week before payday, but teachers receiving only a pay slip but no pay, or only a share of their pay in the bank, everybody is asking questions.

“Senator, there are a number of things that would concern us about that,” Ms Brighton told the Senator cryptically.

Indeed.

The problem for both governments is that BCC is a school with about 1000 students whose families want a Christian-based education. How will they be accommodated if the school has to close, given other independent schools are full?

Hence, Senator Pocock asked about possible government rescue plans while new management can be put in place, but he only received an inscrutable response.

Then there’s that $8 million question. The Tax Office is not the forgiving type.

Time finally appears to be running out for the board, who may be greeted with pitchforks next time they venture into the school they have led to disaster, unless chair Greg Zwajgenberg, whose Trumpesque distractions are wearing thin, thinks the federal election will provide cover and a Coalition government may be more disposed to bailing out the school.

Whatever happens, there is a need for a full forensic audit of school finances and complete transparency about what has happened.

One wonders what could have been avoided if either government had been more upfront and acted sooner.

It may be the only show in town at present but the Brindabella saga needs to find an ending – happy or not.