In Victoria, 63 per cent of students attended public schools in 2015, up from 62.8 per cent the previous year.

Save Our Schools national convenor Trevor Cobbold says results at private schools are often no better than public schools, allowing for socio-economic factors. Credit:Penny Bradfield

In NSW, 65.3 per cent of students attended public schools in 2015, up from 65.1 in 2014. NSW public school enrolments grew by 1.1 per cent over the year, on par with the 1.2 per cent growth in the non-government sector.

This is a shift from the long-term trend, which saw enrolments in independent and Catholic schools surge by almost 10 per cent from 2004 to 2013 while public school enrolments grew by just one per cent over the same period.

Trevor Cobbold, national convenor of the public school lobby group Save our Schools, said the drift towards the non-government sector began in the late 1970s and has continued ever since.