THE Newman Government has banned the Federal schools minister from campaigning in Queensland campuses.

At 11.20am, Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan accused the Newman Government of resorting to Joh Bjelke-Petersen-type tactics to try and shut down debate over Gonski.

"Premier Newman and Minister Langbroek are afraid to have a debate about improving our schools because they know they're going to end up on the wrong side of history," he said.

"There's no doubt Premier Newman is so embarrassed by NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell signing up to this deal that he's had to resort to Joh Bjieke-Petersen-type tactics of shutting down debate and locking out people you disagree with.

"Queenslanders deserve to hear the two sides of this debate and decide for themselves whether they think schools and students in our state should get a better deal."

Mr Garrett this morning said the Newman Government was desperate to try and stop schools from "getting the real facts" about his Government's national plan.

"Their actions are a blow to democracy and free speech and Queenslanders have every right to demand an explanation from them," Mr Garrett said.

Both Mr Garrett and Mr Langbroek have fronted separate press conferences this morning.

Overnight, it was reported the ban on visits by federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett was made last night as tensions over planned changes to funding erupted.

In an extraordinary move, state Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek's office last night confirmed Mr Garrett was not welcome at either Nyanda State High School or Yeronga State School this morning.

A spokeswoman for Mr Langbroek said last night he would not allow Queensland schools "to be the venue for the Gonski media roadshow".

She was referring to the Federal Government's "Gonski plan" for school funding, which has been formulated after a review of the system by business leader David Gonski. The proposed reforms are set to be a major policy battleground ahead of September's federal election.

Mr Garrett, who cancelled his flights yesterday following the ban, accused Mr Langbroek of "outrageous hypocrisy" and said he had been using schools as political footballs.

The move followed a visit from Prime Minister Julia Gillard to a Brisbane Catholic school yesterday, where she called on Premier Campbell Newman to stop playing politics and sign on to her government's education reforms.

Ms Gillard has also been locked out of a televised show with British comedian Ben Elton tonight after West Australian Premier Colin Barnett ordered his education department to pull the plug.

The shutdown of the televised event came with little explanation apart from a notification by the Barnett Government that it had banned the show from being held in a school hall in Perth.

The Labor Party is considering legal action against the WA Government.

Queensland only has 18 days left to sign up to the Gonski reforms.

The Federal Government says under the plan state schools would see funding increases of between 19.4 per cent and 134.5 per cent per student over six years, while no non-government school would be worse off.

But the State Government has questioned the figures and disputed whether the plan is the best one for Queensland.

Its own modelling found 300 Queensland schools would be worse off.

"We have had enough of Queensland schoolchildren being used by the Federal Government as props in a political campaign," Mr Langbroek's spokeswoman said.

"If the Federal Minister wants to come to Queensland and discuss Gonski, he is welcome to make time to meet Minister Langbroek."

The media ban has not been extended to Senator Stephen Conroy, who will speak at the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries this week nor Labor's former speaker Harry Jenkins, who will address MacGregor State High School.

Asked if the Prime Minister could be banned, Mr Langbroek's spokeswoman said decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis.

It is not the first time a Queensland Government has tried to block federal politicians from schools in the lead-up to an election, with Labor's then-Education Minister Rod Welford attempting a similar ban in 2007.

Mr Garrett last night said he had never been prevented from visiting schools until now.

"As the Federal Minister for School Education, I visit hundreds of schools," he said.

"It's my job to explain to principals, teachers, students and parents what our plan means and how it will work in their school."

He said the Newman Government had been using schools as political footballs.

"Minister Langbroek used a school visit last week to make a political comment about the Prime Minister to a group of Year 6 students," he said.

"They have written to school principals with false claims that schools will lose funding under our National Plan for School Improvement.

"And they have continued to refuse to confirm whether they support our plan for fairer school funding."

But Mr Langbroek maintained yesterday he wasn't convinced the plan was the best deal for Queensland and raised concerns about there being no school-by-school figures for non-Government schools.

"Those sectors, the Catholics and the Independents, are very concerned about the negotiations," he said.

Independent Schools Queensland executive director David Robertson called on the Federal Government to release school-by-school funding data for his sector.

"If they can do it for state schools, I don't know why they can't do it for Independent schools," he said.

A spokeswoman for Ms Gillard said negotiations were underway over this release.

Queensland Catholic Education Commission executive director Mike Byrne said it was still unclear whether Catholic schools would be better or worse off under the Federal Government model and there was uncertainty around a number of the plan's elements.

- Additional reporting Jason Tin

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Originally published as School lockout 'a throwback to Joh'