Cyber Safety

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr COWDREY: —update the house on the delivery of the SWiFT internet program and opportunities for young South Australians in cyber careers?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (14:43): I thank the member for the question. The member for Colton is of course concerned deeply, as I know many members are, about the opportunities for South Australian young people. I am sure he is thinking about his own children, as well, and their future, both from a perspective of cyber safety and also cyber opportunity in the years ahead.

The Marshall Liberal government has acted swiftly in relation to rolling out improved internet services right across South Australia to our schools and indeed, as I will go into in a little bit, our preschools in particular. We have a program that is doing that work. But it also ties in very neatly with preparing our young people for a future in which cyber connectivity, cyber safety, cybersecurity and cyber protection are all going to be key parts of the landscape in their education and in their job opportunities.

Throughout South Australian schools, over the period from the end of 2018, when we confirmed a deal and made an announcement that Telstra were indeed rolling out that SWiFT internet program across our public schooling system, right through to the middle of last year, when we reached that 99 per cent plus mark of our schools being connected, the schooling system in South Australia has seen a radical transformation of how the internet has been able to be used in the curriculum, in the professional development for teachers or in the connectivity of schools with their students. And I tell you what, during the COVID pandemic it made the job of teachers trying to engage with students who were isolating at home, for example, that much better and able to deliver a quality outcome.

The decision that the Marshall Liberal government made to invest that $80 million was an election promise after 16 years of Labor and it was a commitment that we took and delivered. To take South Australia schools from the slowest internet in the nation to the fastest is now a reality, and that's been great. We then went one step further later on and expanded that program and invested some further money to deliver it to every preschool site in South Australia. The benefits in curriculum are there, but obviously on a reduced scale compared to schools.

Ask any preschool director the difference that has made to their job, the administration time that is no longer spent, bearing in mind that many of these directors spend a portion of the day doing administration or actually working with children for much of their day. The amount of reduction in wasted time waiting for the internet to work has been dramatic. That program is rolling out really well: 72 per cent complete, with 279 of our preschool and kindergarten sites around South Australia already connected.

I am sure the members for Elizabeth, Playford and Frome will be excited to know that Blakeview Preschool, Liberman Kindergarten and the Solomontown Kindergarten are being connected to the program this week and, indeed, it will please the members for Chaffey, Narungga, Waite, Elder and Enfield that Renmark Children's Centre, Kadina Preschool, Blackwood Kindergarten, Cumberland Preschool Kindergarten and CaFE Enfield Children's Centre in Enfield will be rolling out in the coming weeks as well.

Part of the program was also to ensure that we had filtering systems to protect our children from getting unwelcome content, whether that's from predators or from cybersecurity threats. Palo Alto, a worldwide company and a leader in this area, are delivering that work. It was fantastic to have Palo Alto launch yesterday their Cyber Safe Kids program. They've got a pop-up stall in Rundle Mall for the next two weeks.

I encourage members to get along in the lunch break or, indeed, on the weekend. They are providing information to parents and grandparents about cyber safety and providing information to children on the weekend—of course, they are at school during the week; that's a key thing—about cyber safety programs.

It connects with the opportunities at Lot Fourteen and the Cyber Collaboration Centre, with the cyber traineeship this department has established with the Department for Innovation and Skills, meaning that there will be growth in jobs in this specific area, where there are so many jobs needed in the years ahead to work in cybersecurity. This government is making the investments to put our children and our young people in the best possible position.