Nsw Folds In Computers Row
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday July 1, 2008
THE NSW Government last night backed away from its threat to scuttle Kevin Rudd's computers-in-schools program but had not given up its demand for extra funding.
After negotiations which included a phone call between the Prime Minister and the Premier, Morris Iemma, NSW agreed to join other states and sign up to round one of the program that involves 116,000 computers being installed in 896 schools, of which 302 are in NSW.NSW was refusing to sign the deal unless it received $245 million from the Commonwealth to pay for installation and other costs associated with the computers.Mr Costa told the Herald yesterday that NSW was also seeking an additional $100 million to $120 million a year to fund the ongoing costs of running and maintaining the computers."We're happy to negotiate a sensible arrangement that ensures the Federal Government's election commitments are met but not at the expense of the existing education budget," he said. Mr Costa said the wireless technology proposed by the Federal Government differed from the ADSL technology used in NSW schools and changing this would cost $57 million.More would be needed for charging stations, battery storage and training teachers. "On the basis of what was presented, we're not in a position to participate," he said. But he backflipped last night and will now participate. NSW and the other states will continue to push for extra funding but this will not stop the computers rollout going ahead.It emerged that the embarrassing row between NSW and the Federal Government was revealed when a government staffer accidentally left behind a folder of documents in the Channel Nine studios after the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, had visited on Sunday for an interview.The issue threatened to hijack Thursday's premiers' meeting. Mr Swan welcomed NSW's change off heart. "As I've been saying ... there's always a robust debate between the Commonwealth and state governments." Mr Rudd's promise to fund a computer for every student from year 9 to 12 was a key element of his education revolution. The documents showed that in order to avoid "a big political problem", Mr Swan was advised internally to make a secret deal and pay Mr Costa the $245 million disguised as something else so as not to tip off the other states.They also reveal that another option was to save money by changing the policy to supply one computer for every two students instead of one to each student. Mr Swan said he never had any intention of adopting either piece of advice.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald