Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has unveiled a major expansion of selective public education, promising three new selective-entry high schools and the conversion of six existing government schools into fully or partially selective campuses if the Liberals and Nationals win the November 28 state election.
The policy would substantially increase the number of places available to high-achieving students in Victoria, where demand for selective-entry education currently far exceeds supply, and most existing opportunities are concentrated in a small number of metropolitan locations.
Under the Coalition’s plan, the three purpose-built schools would be established in Melbourne’s rapidly growing outer suburbs, with the site acquisition process beginning immediately after a change of government and a target of opening the schools before 2030.
The three search areas are:
- Melton, Caroline Springs, Sydenham and surrounding suburbs
- Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park and surrounding suburbs
- Langwarrin, Cranbourne South and surrounding suburbs
The Coalition says the locations were chosen because of high demand, rapid population growth and the long distances many students currently travel to access selective-entry education.
Opposition has proposed about $50 million for each new school, putting the construction commitment for the three campuses at about $150 million. The cost of converting the six existing schools has not yet been detailed publicly.
The six existing schools that would become selective or partially selective have not been named. The Opposition says their locations would be determined through community consultation and analysis of demographic and education data, to extend selective opportunities beyond the areas currently served.
Wilson said the policy was designed to ensure academically capable students were not denied opportunities because of where their families lived.
“Every Victorian student deserves the opportunity to reach for their full potential, no matter where they live,” she said.
“Thousands of students sit the select-entry school exam every year and too many of them are missing out because there are not enough places.
Victoria currently has four conventional selective-entry government secondary schools: Melbourne High School, The Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School, Nossal High School in Berwick and Suzanne Cory High School in Werribee. They cater for academically high-achieving students, predominantly from Years 9 to 12.
“A government I lead will expand opportunities for students and parents from across Victoria to access select-entry schools.”
About 1,000 Year 9 places are available across the four schools each year through Victoria’s centralised selection process. Applicants sit an examination assessing higher-order thinking, problem-solving, reasoning, creative thinking, comprehension and the application of concepts drawn from the Year 8 curriculum.
Media reports suggest more than 6,000 students sit for the selective-entry process annually, illustrating the competition for the roughly 1,000 available Year 9 places.
Melbourne High alone has historically attracted more than 1,600 applicants for approximately 380 positions each year.
Victoria also has John Monash Science School in Clayton, a specialist government school for high-ability students focused on science, mathematics and technology. It operates a separate admission process and is formally classified by the Department of Education as a specialist school rather than one of Victoria’s four selective-entry high schools.
John Monash takes about 200 new Year 10 students and around 30 Year 11 students annually, with applicants completing an assessment process covering areas including mathematics, literacy and scientific aptitude.
The Coalition has contrasted Victoria’s system with New South Wales, which has a much larger network of selective public schools.
The NSW Department of Education currently lists 17 fully selective high schools, 26 partially selective schools, four selective agricultural high schools and the online selective program Aurora College. The agricultural schools are themselves fully selective, meaning the broader NSW network includes 21 fully selective physical schools when they are counted alongside the 17 conventional fully selective schools. More than 4,300 selective Year 7 places are available in NSW for 2027.
The Victorian proposal would not simply replicate the state’s current admissions arrangements.
At present, 85 per cent of places in Victoria’s four selective-entry high schools are offered on standard merit determined primarily by exam ranking. Up to 10 per cent can be allocated through an equity consideration category, while up to 5 per cent can be offered under principal discretion.
Wilson’s new policy says admission to the expanded selective system would instead take into account academic performance, aptitude and socio-economic circumstances, with the three factors weighted equally.
That could represent a substantial change from the existing model, particularly in the role given to socio-economic disadvantage.
The Opposition says “equality of opportunity” would be non-negotiable and argues students should not gain access simply because their families can afford to live near a high-performing school or pay private-school fees.
Shadow Education Minister Brad Rowswell said the proposal was intended to establish what he called a “level playing field”.
“I want every Victorian student to have the opportunity to succeed at school; to thrive and achieve their full potential,” Rowswell said.
“Selection to these schools must be accessible and not based on postcode.”
“The establishment of these schools will help to strengthen Victoria’s state education system, giving students more opportunities to achieve their full potential and offering parents greater school choice.”
The detail of how the equal weighting would operate has not yet been released. It remains unclear, for example, exactly how socio-economic circumstances would be scored alongside examination performance, how many places each school would offer, whether all three new campuses would be co-educational, and how the six converted schools would balance selective and local enrolments.
Those questions would become important if the Coalition forms government, particularly because partially selective schools continue to educate students from their surrounding communities while also running dedicated classes or streams for academically selected students.
The geographic focus of the new schools reflects the rapid growth of Melbourne’s outer suburban corridors.
The City of Melton had an estimated population of more than 231,000 in June 2025 and recorded population growth of 5.8 per cent during 2024-25, making it Australia’s fastest-growing municipality during that period. Rockbank-Mount Cottrell and Fraser Rise-Plumpton were among the fastest-growing areas nationally.
Craigieburn and surrounding northern suburbs have similarly experienced substantial population growth, while Cranbourne and Melbourne’s south-east continue to absorb large numbers of new families.
The Coalition argues that putting selective-entry schools in those corridors would reduce the need for talented students to travel long distances to Melbourne High, Mac.Rob, Nossal or Suzanne Cory.
The proposal also revives a debate the Liberals have pursued for several years.
In 2023, the Victorian Coalition proposed building as many as 10 additional selective-entry schools over a decade, including schools in regional Victoria and Melbourne’s outer north. Liberal MP Trung Luu again raised the shortage of selective schools in Parliament in 2024.
The latest policy is structured differently: instead of 10 entirely new selective schools, the Coalition is proposing three new schools and six conversions, potentially creating nine additional selective or partially selective settings.
The proposal also lands in a long-running debate about whether selective schools are the best way to support gifted students.
Supporters argue highly capable students benefit academically and socially from learning alongside peers working at similar levels and from having access to specialised teachers, advanced subjects and accelerated learning.
A Victorian parliamentary inquiry into gifted education previously found evidence that selective schools could provide academic as well as social benefits, though it also noted questions around equitable access and the effect selective schools can have on surrounding schools.
Professor Jae Jung, an expert in gifted education, argued earlier this year that Victoria’s four-school system was too limited and that more high-ability students could benefit from selective education. He described competition for the existing schools as intense and called for consideration of additional selective options.
Critics of selective systems have raised different concerns, including whether tutoring advantages wealthier families, whether concentrating high-achieving students weakens comprehensive schools and whether selective admissions adequately identify gifted students from disadvantaged, regional or culturally diverse backgrounds.
Those equity concerns appear to be part of the reason the Coalition has proposed giving socio-economic circumstances an equal role in entry decisions.
The Carroll Labor Government has pursued a different approach to high-ability education.
In June, then education minister Ben Carroll announced a $75.1 million expansion of statewide enrichment programs, providing 75,000 places in the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series and up to 48,000 places in the Victorian High Ability Program over four years.
Those programs aim to reach academically advanced students while allowing them to remain in their existing local schools.
Labor has also funded mathematics camps for high-ability Year 9 and 10 students, with priority given to regional, rural and disadvantaged students, and maintains high-ability practice leaders in government schools.
Following Carroll’s elevation to Premier, Gabrielle Williams became Deputy Premier and Education Minister in August.
A specific government response to the Coalition’s new nine-school selective-entry proposal had not been publicly identified at the time of publication.
Labor has, however, repeatedly argued its model provides high-ability opportunities across the entire public system rather than concentrating them in a limited number of specialist campuses.
Victoria has also dramatically expanded its general public-school network. The government says it has opened 121 new schools and completed more than 2,300 upgrades, including a record 19 new schools opening in 2026.
The Coalition’s selective-school plan therefore sets up a clear education policy contest ahead of the November election.
Labor’s approach emphasises extension programs and specialist opportunities available to high-performing students while they remain connected to local schools.
The Liberals and Nationals are proposing a considerably larger network of dedicated selective environments, arguing that the demand for the existing four schools demonstrates parents want more specialised academic options.
For families in Melbourne’s west, north and south-east, the practical question could be particularly significant.
If the Coalition wins government and delivers the policy, students from Melton, Caroline Springs, Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park, Langwarrin, Cranbourne and surrounding suburbs could have access to dedicated selective-entry schools far closer to home than is currently possible.
What is clear is that selective education, long confined to a small number of prestigious Victorian government schools, is now shaping up as a major education battleground in the campaign to decide who governs Victoria after November 28.
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