An Australian education system question

Okay, so, I read in the papers last week that private schooling is climbing up to be as much as $20,000 per child per year in this country. This particular article was about how this is increasingly putting pressure on families and is being linked to causes of depression and divorce rates amongst parents. Yikes. Now, I got to thinking... ...although homeschooling in this country, on the average, is quite rare, a couple of families of like-aged kids could pool their money together and privately employ a teacher for that kind of money, at home, and thus - perhaps - save themselves on other overheads like transport, uniforms, etc. The teacher-student ratio for one would be dramatically reduced. Or am I being too simplistic? Would that kind of scenario even be legal? Can you tell I'm starting to freak out about the whole 'school thing'? I have to say, living in the city, I guess I am lucky to have so many more choices for the kids than, say, in the town where I grew up. There was public, public, public. With one Catholic primary school. But I went to the public. And my memories of it are that it was a pretty excellent place. What do you think of the whole debate? (PLEASE, I know this is a passionate subject for some people. Beat your chest if you will, but please also be respectful!)