The comments come following the release of the results of a consultation with the city’s numerous stakeholders on Wednesday, which found while 21 per cent of respondents supported option one, only 29 per cent supported option two.

“The important thing to note about the consultants’ report it it is only one of several factors being taken into consideration,” Mr Piccoli said on Friday.

“It is hard to say how much weight will be given to it.”

Mr Piccoli said views from the principals of both existing high schools, the teaching profession including submissions from the teacher’s federation and those of experts in high schooling both nationally and internationally would also be strong influences on the final decision.

The Murray MP said the city was in the national spotlight as it awaits a decision, with the question of the future of current schooling methods pertinent to all Australian schools.

“There are plenty of people watching this to see what ends up coming of this, there is a broader recognition across Australia that we need to do something a bit differently, particularly in regional Australia,” he said.

“More people are looking at Griffith schools now than ever before.”

With this in mind Mr Piccoli said whatever happens in the coming months it won’t be a case of “set and forget.”

“There will be an ongoing analysis of how students perform, because you have other places around Australia that have two or three small high schools and who want to see what they can do better,” he said.

The former Education Minister faced vehement opposition in some forums over the proposal to change the city’s secondary education system, but said he wasn’t surprised at the neutral results of the consultation report.

“I think it accurately reflects the different views,” he said. “I had a lot of private conversations with parents who didn’t want to go on the public record and I think the report actually reflects what they were saying to me privately.”