The train had a flat tyre

The Gillard Government has walked away from its commitment to deliver a computer for every student in years nine to twelve by December 2011, Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education said today.

A spokesperson for Schools Minister, Peter Garrett has said in the media today that the deadline for computers in schools has been met because ‘all the money for computers had been allocated.’

“Knowing they are hundreds of thousands of computers away from reaching the December deadline Mr Garrett is pretending that allocating all the money in the programme means the Government is somehow off the hook,” Mr Pyne said.

“Next Peter Garrett will claim he was late for work because the train had a flat tyre and he had to help change it,” he said.

“Australian parents are not so naïve. They remember when Kevin Rudd was elected in 2007 he promised 1,000,000 computers, one for every student in year nine to year twelve at no cost to them, delivered by December 2011 at a cost of $1 billion.

“Since that time the computers in schools programme has broken every single one of Labor’s commitments. Just over half of the promised 1,000,000 computers have been delivered, families in some states are being charged hundreds of dollars to use them and the total cost has blown out to $2.4 billion.

“Now with the December deadline approaching Schools Minister Peter Garrett is facing another crisis in his portfolio. Having survived the roof batts debacle Mr Garrett must resign if the computers in schools programme is not fully delivered by December,” Mr Pyne said.

November 3, 2011

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