If it is the duty of the State to educate, it is the duty of the State also to bear the burden of education, namely, the taxation out of which education is provided.

He refused an offer to become Attorney-General again.  shall be absolutely free" in a federal Australia. He did not stand for election in the 1895 elections because he needed to support his large family during a period when parliamentarians were not paid.

Barton first became an MP in 1879 in the Parliament of New South Wales. Barton resigned as Prime Minister in 1903 to become a judge of the High Court of Australia serving for 17 years until his death in 1920.