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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-07 Daily Xml
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SCHOOL COMPUTERS

Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:24): Will the Minister for Education clarify the on costs funding for those schools that received computers in the first round of the secondary schools computer fund? Will these schools be receiving the extra $1,500 per computer that the South Australian independent schools—

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: I have a point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley will take his seat.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: The honourable member has to give an explanation for his question.

The SPEAKER: Order! Were you giving an explanation? I think the honourable member is still asking the question.

Mr PISONI: If I may continue, I am asking the question.

The Hon. K.O. Foley: It's a long question.

Mr PISONI: It is a long question. That's right, Treasurer, you are very observant. I will start the question again. Will the minister clarify the on costs funding for those schools that received computers in the first round of the secondary schools computer fund? Will these schools be receiving the extra $1,500 per computer that South Australian independent schools and schools in other states received or will they be required to fund this infrastructure from their own budgets?

Schools have contacted my office after being told by the minister's department that associated infrastructure for new computers received in the first round will not be forthcoming from the minister, forcing them to fund their own infrastructure from maintenance budgets, parents' fees, or, alternatively, leaving their new computers in boxes. The minister has responded to these claims on radio by stating that she does not believe it is a 'big issue' or 'the end of civilisation as we know it'.

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (15:25): I thank the member for Unley for his question. He will persist in complaining about schools in Australia getting $1 billion worth of funding for computers, and when the on costs are added in, again, he is opposed to that as well.

Mr PISONI: Point of order. The minister is introducing debate into the answer. I have simply asked whether or not schools will receive an extra $1,500 in funding.

The SPEAKER: I do not think you 'simply' asked that question. I think the question was somewhat longer than just that simple question. The Minister for Education.

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH: The reality is that, now, closer to $2 billion of funding is to be spent by the federal government to buy computers for our schools for senior secondary education. This is an enormous investment, and all the member for Unley has done is denigrate it. He does not want the computers to go into schools. He has told stories about—

Mr PISONI: Point of order. Standing order 123: the minister is implying improper motives, and I ask that she withdraw her comments.

The SPEAKER: No. 'Improper motives' means that she would be alleging some criminal action on your part. I do not think she was doing that. The Minister for Education.

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH: To assist the member for Unley, he mentioned standing order 123: no member be referred to by name. I certainly have not referred to him by name. Let me just make this entirely clear. The member for Unley does not support the massive investment by the federal government in buying computers for senior secondary schools. He has done nothing but complain about it.

This, after all, is the party that voted against the Education Revolution, voted against more than $14 billion for Australian schools. The only people who do not want new computers in senior secondary schools, the only people who do not want $1 billion—I will say that again, $1 billion—spent in South Australian schools are those opposite.

The stories that the member for Unley has told are purely unconscionable. He has told people constantly that private schools do not have to pay licence costs for computers—a fiction. Everyone has to pay licence fees—everyone. He has complained constantly about the cost of installing computers, as if it was not a gift from the federal government.

This state is receiving $37 million—I will say it again, $37 million—in on costs for the future round—$37 million for the on costs in installing computers. If the member for Unley thinks we are not doing things efficiently, he should just reflect on the record that South Australia has in the first round of Building the Education Revolution School Pride funding. We are the only state—

Mr PISONI: Point of order. The question is quite specific: will schools be getting $2,500 a computer, or not? It is quite specific. Round 1: yes or no, minister?

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Unley will take his seat. The question was not specific at all. It was a very general question. The Minister for Education.

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH: As I said, we are the only state that has been so well organised that 100 per cent of our applications from the public sector and the non-government sector (both Catholic and independent) have been received and ticked off by the federal government, because we actually comply with all the rules and all the regulations.

Whatever the member for Unley says, the funding package across the country was set down by the federal minister. The implication that South Australia has been dudded is a nonsense, because private schools have to pay licence fees just like public schools. Some private schools have had to put cabling in and some have had to get licences, and some have not. There is a variation across the system.

What I can tell you about South Australian government schools is that we have been working with our schools to bulk buy computers to get them at the lowest cost, which has left us with funds that we can use to cover licences and cabling. If there are any schools that have a genuine issue with the way they have been installed, we can resolve them. But let us say that, at the end of the day, the good news is an extraordinarily large number of computers have been bought across many schools in South Australia, and they have computers they would not otherwise have had.

The other piece of good news that the member for Unley does not like is that we are ahead of schedule compared to other states. The other story that the member for Unley does not like to hear—which is the truth—is that we are ahead of schedule and things are rolling out very well with our Building the Education Revolution. The reality is that, with the funding that is going out to schools, every dollar is being invested as it comes into the department; it is being spent economically and efficiently. If he does not like investment in schools, he should just say so.

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