Presented by Robert Clark MP		www.robertclark.net

Auditor-General's report on One for Three computer subsidies

The Education Minister, Phil Gude, has responded to criticism of the Government’s One for Three Computer Subsidy program by the Opposition, following the Auditor-General’s report on Ministerial portfolios.

Mr Gude said that the Opposition had ignored the fact that the Auditor-General’s report noted that the structure of schools’ global budgets takes account of the socio-economic circumstances of school populations.

Mr Gude said that an analysis by RMIT University of the One for Three program revealed that schools in Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs and country Victoria received the highest level of funding per student and that the Auditor General’s report acknowledged the work being done by the State Government in providing computer access to schools.

Positive initiatives singled out by the report include:

· Providing all Government school students access to their own e-mail address and web site homepage.

· Over $17 million to be provided over the next financial year for IT support.

· $100 million over five years to provide laptop computers to all teachers.

(News Release, Office of the Minister for Education, 26 May 1999)