❓ The Minister for Education and Training outlines the benefits of the government's $120 million broadband rollout to WA schools, criticising the previous government's handling of technology in education and highlighting improvements for regional schools and the School of the Air.
AnsweredQoN 845Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Will the minister outline to the House some of the expected benefits to Western Australian students from the Government’s investment in broadband rollout to primary and other schools, particularly the North Perth Primary School in my electorate? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Perth very much for the question and his keen interest in education in his electorate. Before I proceed with my answer, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of students from the Karratha Primary School, who have come a long way to witness what is going on here today, under the guidance of their principal, Mr Andrew Holmes, who Swan Districts supporters will remember as an outstanding footballer from some time ago. I welcome them. The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Perth very much for the question and his keen interest in education in his electorate. Before I proceed with my answer, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of students from the Karratha Primary School, who have come a long way to witness what is going on here today, under the guidance of their principal, Mr Andrew Holmes, who Swan Districts supporters will remember as an outstanding footballer from some time ago. I welcome them. The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
I thank the member for Perth very much for the question and his keen interest in education in his electorate. Before I proceed with my answer, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of students from the Karratha Primary School, who have come a long way to witness what is going on here today, under the guidance of their principal, Mr Andrew Holmes, who Swan Districts supporters will remember as an outstanding footballer from some time ago. I welcome them. The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Before I proceed with my answer, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of students from the Karratha Primary School, who have come a long way to witness what is going on here today, under the guidance of their principal, Mr Andrew Holmes, who Swan Districts supporters will remember as an outstanding footballer from some time ago. I welcome them. The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for Perth very much for the question and his keen interest in education in his electorate. Before I proceed with my answer, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of students from the Karratha Primary School, who have come a long way to witness what is going on here today, under the guidance of their principal, Mr Andrew Holmes, who Swan Districts supporters will remember as an outstanding footballer from some time ago. I welcome them. The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
I thank the member for Perth very much for the question and his keen interest in education in his electorate. Before I proceed with my answer, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of students from the Karratha Primary School, who have come a long way to witness what is going on here today, under the guidance of their principal, Mr Andrew Holmes, who Swan Districts supporters will remember as an outstanding footballer from some time ago. I welcome them. The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Before I proceed with my answer, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of students from the Karratha Primary School, who have come a long way to witness what is going on here today, under the guidance of their principal, Mr Andrew Holmes, who Swan Districts supporters will remember as an outstanding footballer from some time ago. I welcome them. The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
The Government has embarked upon a program to provide basically to every school in Western Australia a high-speed Internet connection and networking within schools. It inherited a rather unfortunate situation, which the previous Government bequeathed to it. The previous Government seized upon the germ of a good idea that had been generated by someone in the Department of Education and Training and proceeded to make a terrible mess of it. It essentially pushed computers out to schools all over Western Australia and said, “Here is a whole bunch of computers. See what you can do with them.” As a result of the previous Government’s largely unsuccessful efforts to network in schools and so on, the system has cost a great deal of money. The whole process was dependent upon the expertise of individual staff members in the schools. It was a shocking waste of government resources and another example of the hopeless way in which the previous minister went about his job. We have applied rigour and science to the application of Internet technology in schools. We have entered into a $120 million program with Telstra and Optus to provide high-speed Internet services to every school in Western Australia, plus the School of the Air. This has completely revolutionised the School of the Air’s teaching process compared with the old days of radio-based lessons. The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
The Government today connected 600 schools with the Telstra data services. That is delivered, and additional services such as the Internet, videoconferencing and web mail will be phased in, with the expected completion date being September 2003. Some 40 schools are already connected to the full service, which includes the networking of classes on a trial basis, which the previous Minister for Education never thought about because he had no idea what he was doing. He was a shocking minister because of the way he blew the budget; he had people drifting out of the system and declining year 12 retention rates. I pay tribute to the people involved in the public education system who have managed to turn things around in such a short time. The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
The broadband rollout is part of a $26.9 million initiative that will ensure all government schools across Western Australia will be connected. Of that money, $17.1 million has been allocated to regional Western Australia. That is yet another way in which the Government is providing high-quality education in rural areas. A lot of attention is being paid to regional schools, as visitors from schools today would know. Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Significant wider community benefits have been achieved. Because the Government believes in equity, it has allowed Catholic and independent schools to piggyback on the department’s contract and gain access to the same bandwidth services. That fact is rather conveniently neglected in the content of that rather misleading and false petition that is being circulated by the parents and friends organisation. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Mrs C.L. Edwardes: They will get back at you. Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER: I have written to them directly and told them. They know that the petition is false and misleading. The Government paid $1.5 million for the schools to connect to the system, yet that petition is circulating, much to the embarrassment of the Catholic Education Office. The 24 x 7 telecommunications services support at no extra cost allows after-hours management and maintenance, which reduces the technical support burden on schools. In addition, the Government has progressed a number of significant information and communication technology projects. The School of the Air has been allocated $10 million. The previous Government promised that teachers would get notebook computers. What the previous Government did not tell the teachers was that they would have to pay for them. It took this Government to find the money for them. That is a great example of how the Labor Government is delivering on its commitments. North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
North Perth Primary School is connected to broadband services. The school currently utilises broadband for operational services. The school has a very good local member of Parliament. It has a good reputation and is a brilliant school. It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
It is good to be part of a Government that values public education and the teachers and staff in public education and does not spend its time demeaning public education. The Government has given public education the human and physical resources it needs. It has reduced class sizes and given public education money for behaviour management and discipline initiatives. It has supported the teachers. It has employed 500 additional teachers in primary schools in its short time. The tide has turned for public education, and I am very glad to be part of it. The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Darling Range for the second time. I also call to order the Leader of the Opposition and the members for Kingsley and Vasse.
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