Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Hansard source

You are probably right, Senator Marshall. That is a little bit rough even for Mr Carpenter. I should say the former Premier of Western Australia. Mr Carpenter got some things wrong but he got some things right. What he said was that the program was underbudgeted by about $3 billion—which again is about the average commercial ratio. Mr Carpenter said: ‘The Western Australia state government isn’t going to fund this proposal. This is a federal government initiative and they can pay for it.’ But what about some of the other states? Let us have a look at South Australia. I will read from the Australian of Friday, 12 September this year. The article says:

South Australian Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith said the funding deal was predicated on the states being able to buy a computer and licence for $1000.

“The federal Government have agreed that the funding should cover the cost of the equipment and legitimate oncosts,” Dr Lomax-Smith said. “If what (schools) are suggesting is the state Government should fund a federal commitment (to pay for the licences), then I’m a little bit bemused. It is a federal government initiative.”

Just like the Western Australian government, the South Australian government will not pay for this fiasco. They have said that they will not do that. And it gets worse. In New South Wales the budget papers of the former Treasurer, Mr Costa, said this:

To date, the COAG Working Groups have primarily focussed on developing detailed implementation plans for the major Commonwealth election commitments, such as the Digital Education Revolution and the National Rental Affordability Scheme.

According to the budget paper, the COAG meeting:

… recognises that the Commonwealth election commitments and the policy objectives and programs underpinning them reflect the Commonwealth’s priorities and preferences for service delivery.

The budget paper continued:

Whilst some of these election commitments relate to NSW broad policy objectives, they do not necessarily reflect the core commitments and priorities of the NSW State Plan.

The NSW Budget therefore has been prepared on the basis that the Commonwealth fully pays for all “legitimate and additional” State costs in implementing the Commonwealth Government’s election commitments.

So there we have it: Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales all saying they will not fund the Rudd government’s computers in schools program.