Earlier this week a Crikey survey revealed that 82% of Tony...

Earlier this week a Crikey survey revealed that 82% of Tony Abbott’s cabinet went to a private school. With around 35% of Australian students in private education, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and education reforms still up in the air, the old boys’ club is alive and well at the elite level of politics.
But Labor ministries are not the bastions of public education you might assume. Crikey has conducted the same survey for Bill Shorten’s shadow frontbench, and we’ve found 53% of  went to private schools (though many don’t compare to the expensive ivy-league schools attended by Abbott’s old boys).
This is the latest shift towards private education for our top pollies. The various Rudd and Gillard ministries were all around the 50/50 split, but since 2007 — with the exception of Anthony Albanese (St Mary’s Cathedral College) — the ALP leader and deputy have tended to come from a public-school background. Don’t forget though that Kevin Rudd did a two-year stint at Marist Brothers Ashgrove.
Bill Shorten — who went to the private Xavier College — breaks the mould somewhat. Not since Gough Whitlam has an ALP leader graduated from a private school (Paul Keating attended LaSalle College, but dropped out aged 15).
The Opposition Leader’s Jesuit education puts him in the company of Liberal frontbenchers Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, Joe Hockey and Christopher Pyne. And Shorten’s alma mater is not cheap; one of only four Jesuit schools in Australia, Xavier College fees reached $23,060 this year.
The majority of the 10 Labor frontbenchers with a private education come from Catholic schools. However, many had annual tuition fees below $8000, some as low as $1959 (Albanese) — a far cry from the multiple $20,000+ fees of the Coalition frontbench.
Two exceptions are Scotch College (shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus), and Geelong Grammar (opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles).
Year 12 tuition at Scotch College set you back $26,556 this year; to some that would be justified by an alumni that boasts a former prime minister, three governors-general, four High Court justices and more Order of Australia recipients than any other Australian school.
Geelong Grammar, the exclusive college of media moguls Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer, former PM John Gorton and Prince Charles, tops the list at $32,400, meaning Marles pips Defence Minister David Johnston at the post for “most expensive frontbench education” in either major party. Johnston’s alma mater, Wesley College, falls just shy at $32,061.
With education a traditional pillar of Labor values, will the slight shift towards a private education for the frontbench signal a change in how the party handles education policy over time?

• Opposition
 Leader Bill Shorten
  PRIVATE
  Xavier College, Melbourne
  Yr 12 fees: $23,060
• Deputy Leader, spokeswoman for foreign affairs Tanya Plibersek
  PUBLIC
  Jannali Girls High, South Sydney
• Senate Opposition Leader, spokeswoman for trade Penny Wong
  PRIVATE
  Scotch College, Adelaide
  Yr 12 fees: $23,080
• Spokesperson for defence Stephen Conroy
  PRIVATE
  Daramalan College, Canberra
  Yr 12 fees: $7420
• Shadow treasurer
 Chris Bowen
  PUBLIC
  St Johns Park High School, Sydney
• Manager of opposition business, spokesman for finance Tony Burke
  PRIVATE
  St Patrick’s College, Strathfield
  Yr 12 fees: $7143
• Shadow attorney-general
, spokesman for the arts 
Mark Dreyfus
  PRIVATE
  Scotch College, Melbourne
  Yr 12 fees:  $26,556
• Spokesman for science, higher education and industry Kim Carr
  PUBLIC
  Moreland High School, Coburg
• Spokesman for infrastructure, tourism Anthony Albanese
  PRIVATE
  St Mary’s Cathedral College, Sydney
  Yr 12 fees: $1959
• Spokesman for environment, climate change Mark Butler
  PUBLIC
  Unley High School, South Australia
• Spokesman for communications Jason Clare
  PUBLIC
  Canley Vale High School, Sydney
• Spokeswoman for education, early childhood Kate Ellis MP
  PUBLIC
  Daws Road, Adelaide
• Spokesman for agriculture
 Joel Fitzgibbon
  PRIVATE
  All Saints College, Maitland
• Spokesman for resources, Northern Australia Gary Gray
  PUBLIC
  Whyalla High School
• Spokeswoman for health Catherine King
  PRIVATE
  Emmaus College Burwood
  Yr 12 fees: $5970
• Spokeswoman for families, disability reform Jenny Macklin
  PUBLIC
  Wangaratta High School
• Spokesman for immigration Richard Marles
  PRIVATE
  Geelong Grammar School
  Yr 12 fees: $32,400
• Spokesman for ageing Shayne Neumann
  PUBLIC
  Bundamba State Secondary College, Ipswich
• Spokesman for employment Brendan O’Connor
  PRIVATE
  Aquinas College, Ringwood
  Yr 12 fees: $5075