School Wireless Network

Mr ANDREW STONER: My question is directed to the Premier. Given the Premier could not even deliver his promise of a free wireless network for the Sydney central business district, how does he expect the public to believe he can deliver a wireless network for half the State's 400 high schools, containing 100,000 students, by mid 2009?

Mr NATHAN REES: The Rudd Government committed to working with the States to deliver a computer for every senior secondary school student. At the Council of Australian Governments [COAG] meeting on the weekend the Prime Minister, other State Premiers and I signed the agreement that will make it a reality. New South Wales and the Minister for Education were right at the centre of the discussions and negotiations. It is inconvenient for the Opposition that we are delivering on this—I know that—but we are delivering it right across the State.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Nationals will cease interjecting.

Mr NATHAN REES: We will be at the centre of making this happen. We will be at the centre of Prime Minister Rudd's education revolution. New South Wales stands ready to deliver teenage-friendly, custom-built laptops to the nation. We have worked with information technology specialists to design a streamlined version of a laptop. It is about three-quarters of the size of a regular laptop and is compact enough to fit into a schoolbag or a school locker, but powerful enough to support all the IT needs of our high school students. Students will be able to take them home at night to work with and we will also encode them strictly for use within the New South Wales Department of Education network so that they are of no value stolen or resold. We are ready to push the button to seek market players as early as this week and we can help other States to get on board by being the national broker for the deal. We will deliver the digital revolution by putting wireless networks in every public secondary school and buying a laptop for each of the 197,000 New South Wales school students in years 9 to 12. This is the best option to affordably deliver the national commitment of computer access for students in years 9 to 12.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Murray-Darling will cease interjecting. I call the member for Murray-Darling to order.

Mr NATHAN REES: The New South Wales model has been developed in collaboration with the Secondary Principals Council, the Primary Principals Association and the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations, and it has their support. We have a good track record of delivering IT to our classrooms—

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Bathurst to order.

Mr NATHAN REES: If Coalition members were ever on the Treasury benches they would be handing out an abacus every week. Their policy work is still done with an abacus, a crayon and some butcher's paper, so I would not go on about that if I were them. New South Wales has a good track record of delivering IT to our classrooms and we have already invested heavily in this area. We were the first State in Australia to connect every classroom to the Internet and the first State to provide email to every student. We are also delivering our $168 million Connected Classrooms program. Interactive whiteboards and videoconferencing facilities are being rolled out to schools around the State.

Mr Andrew Stoner: Point of order—

The SPEAKER: Order! Government members will come to order. I call the Minister for Finance to order.

Mr Andrew Stoner: I refer to Standing Order 129, relevance. The question was quite specific. I have allowed the Premier ample time to answer the question, which is about providing the wireless network by mid next year.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of The Nationals will resume his seat. The Premier's response is relevant to the question asked.

Mr NATHAN REES: The digital education initiative comes on top of more than $1 million in new funding being injected into New South Wales schools by the Rudd Government. Unlike the previous Liberal-Nationals Federal Government, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard support public education and are ready to make sure our public schools have the resources they need.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of The Nationals has asked his question. He will listen to the Premier's answer in silence.

Mr NATHAN REES: The Federal Government has budgeted substantial new dollars for its education revolution, including investments in teacher quality, literacy and numeracy, and supporting our needier schools. On Saturday in Canberra the Prime Minister and I signed the necessary agreements to govern these massive new investments. The new money and programs will enable New South Wales to go even further with successful programs we are already implementing.