Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Mason knows that his question is based on a false presumption. His assertion is simply wrong and it is rejected by the government. The Australian government is investing $1.2 billion over five years in the digital education revolution to improve access to world-class information for Australian secondary students. One part of this investment is $1.1 billion for the National Secondary School Computer Fund. Round 1 of the fund is providing $116 million to 896 secondary schools across Australia—that is, 116,820 computers, taking the computer-student ratios under the previous government of one to eight, or worse, to a ratio of one to two. In the first round of funding already initiated, some 10,238 computers have been delivered to 107 schools across Australia.

Under round 2 of school funding, a total of 1,420 schools across Australia have applied—that is, 793 government schools, 342 independent schools and 285 Catholic schools. By the end of this year, all of the non-government schools will have received funding for their computers. At the conclusion of the COAG negotiations and the on-costs discussions, government schools will be in a position to begin receiving computers for the 2009 school year. (Time expired)