FOI exposes massive Computers in Schools

Freedom of information documents have revealed what the Federal Government has been trying to hide. The $51,000,000 that will be given to the Western Australian State Government for Computers in Schools will cost the state an additional $167,000,000, Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education said today. "This works out to a ratio of $3.27 for every $1 Federal spent, bringing the additional cost of the $1.2 billion program to all states and territories to $3.924 billion if the costs in the other states are the same,"" Mr Pyne said. "The Rudd Government is fully aware of these additional costs," he said. It was revealed in Senate Estimates that the Federal Department of Education had provided this advice to the Minister, but this program has become an embarrassment and the Government has refused to release the details. Now the truth is on the table it is time for the Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, to come clean on the costs for all states. No one would disagree that it is useful for students to have access to computers, but the central headline grabbing initiative of the Rudd Government's education revolution is absurdly under-funded, and failing to deliver. It was these prohibitive costs that saw the New South Wales Government refuse to participate in round two, the Victorian Government allow schools to charge parents for maintenance, and the South Australian and ACT Governments exchanging old computers for new. "Maybe if Australia had a full time Education Minister with an eye on the details the Computers in Schools program Couldn't have become such an embarrassing failure," Mr Pyne said. November 25, 2008 Media Contact: Adam Howard 0400 414 833