Prime Minister Tony Abbott has ruled out supporting a controversial proposal to means-test free public education only hours after praising it as "creative thinking".
Earlier on Tuesday Education Minister Christopher Pyne dismissed the proposal, contained in a leaked discussion paper developed by the Prime Minister's department, as a "balloon that's been floated" and said he did not support it.
Both Mr Abbott and Mr Pyne left open supporting other radical ideas in the paper, including ending all Commonwealth funding for public schools.
Asked about the issue during question time on Monday afternoon, Mr Abbott said: "Let me say this, the Australian government does not and will not support a means test for public education, full stop, ends of story. If the states and territories want to change wealthy parents fees for public schools, that is a matter for them. Charging wealthy parents for their children to attend public schools is not this government's policy."
Earlier on Monday, the Prime Minister praised the idea as "creative thinking" and refused to rule it out when asked about Fairfax Media's report.
Acting Labor education spokesman Mark Butler leapt on the leaked paper to argue the government was "considering incomprehensible damage to Australia's education system".
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews described the idea of making wealthy parents pay for state schools as "appalling", saying: "Victorians will not cop this."
Liberal MP Andrew Laming backed the proposal, saying it was incongruous that 18-year old university students have to pay fees but the wealthy families of 17-year old school children do not.
"Should high-income earners be paying to attend a state education facility? My view is firmly yes," Dr Laming said. "Ultimately the product has a value and that value should be reflected by those who have the ability to pay."
John Roskam, executive director of free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs, supported the idea and said it ought to be debated.
"Many people, such as myself, have long argued that wealthy parents should make a contribution to government school education," he said. "The idea that education is free is a misnomer."
Requiring wealthy parents to pay school fees would produce "parents with a stronger, better stake in government school education".
"Education needs to be well-funded, it needs to be resourced," he said. "This would also grow the funding base for all schools."
Mr Pyne said on Monday he did not support requiring wealthy parents to pay for their children's public education, just a day after saying he would not pre-empt the green paper process.
He told Sky News definitively: "This is not Australian government policy. I don't support it. It's part of a discussion paper but we have absolutely no plans to introduce anything of the sort. Full stop. End of story."
Mr Pyne left open supporting other significant proposals contained in the green paper, including ending federal funding responsibility for all schools or for public schools.
"It's not about reducing funding; it's about determining who does what," he said. "The current situation is messy."
Mr Pyne called for a "proper debate and discussion about future of federal-state relations".
The green paper, which has not been officially released, recommends one of four reform options:
giving the states and territories full responsibility for all schools
making states and territories fully responsible for funding public schools while the federal government funds non-government schools
reducing Commonwealth involvement in schools, but without significant structural change
making the federal government the dominant funder of all schools.
Under the fourth option, the federal government would provide funding for all students "adjusted for student need and the ability of families to make a contribution".
The paper makes explicit the prospect of public school fees for high-income families by saying: "The states and territories would have the option to 'top-up' funding to government schools, if they wished to do so, to ensure all public school students, regardless of the ability of families to make a contribution, were able to attend for free."
The green paper precedes a final white paper on federation reform that is due for release by the end of the year.
