Dear Correspondents I refer to your emails to the Honourable Kate Jones MP, Minister for Education and Minister for Tourism, Major Events and the Commonwealth Games, regarding the Board of Trustees of Brisbane Grammar School (Board of Trustees). The Minister has asked me to respond on her behalf. As advised to you in my previous letters, the Minister is unable to intervene in the compensation process between victims and the Board of Trustees. Regarding the new Grammar Schools Act 2016, your email dated 16 February 2017 stated the Minister's position as "there has been a change in legislation there is now little the Minister can do about the Trustees of Brisbane Grammar School." Your interpretation of the Minister's reply is incorrect. The changes to the legislation regulating grammar schools were largely administrative in nature, primarily relating to the processes surrounding the appointment of board members. Under the previous Grammar Schools Act 1975, the Minister's power to direct Grammar School Boards is limited to specific circumstances and the Act does not contain provisions concerning the repayment of school fees. The new Grammar Schools Act 2016 has the same powers of direction and does not deal with the operational matters, such as fees and compensation, which all non-state schools have a responsibility to manage. In this email you also enquired whether the Minister has informed the Royal Commission or members of the Australian Parliament of her referral to the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) of your allegations of bribery by members of the Board of Trustees. The Minister is not required to inform any other body of any referral she makes to the CCC. In your email dated 9 March 2017, you requested that the Minister exercise her powers under Chapter 4 of the Education (Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Act 2001 (the Act) to review the decision by the Board of Trustees to refuse to refund the school fees of victims. Chapter 4 of the Act allows the Minister to review decisions about the accreditation and government funding eligibility of non-state schools made by the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board and by herself. It does not relate to the matter to which you refer, nor is there any other section of the Act that is relevant to this matter. The Act applies only to matters of accreditation and government funding eligibility of non-state schools. 2 Should you require further information, I invite you to contact Ms Christine Rutledge, Manager, Office of Non-State Education, on telephone 3513 6743 or by email at OfficeOfNonStateEducationde@.q1d.qov.au. I trust that this response further clarifies the Minister's position on this matter. Yours sincerely • DON WILSON Senior Policy Advisor Office of the Hon Kate Jones MP Minister for Education and Minister for Tourism, Major Events and the Commonwealth Games