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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (17 February) . . Page.. 267 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: He hurls these sorts of accusations. I will tell you what is spiteful, Mr Berry. What is spiteful, Mr Berry, is asking questions about people having motor vehicle accidents, and asking about conducting breath tests for people who - - -

Mr Berry: When you are worried about people who drink and drive you ask those questions.

MR HUMPHRIES: It is a chance for you to get on your favourite hobby horse, the ACT Chief Minister.

Mr Berry: When you will not worry about people who drink and drive, you ask those questions.

MR HUMPHRIES: If you want to see something spiteful, look at your record with respect to Kate Carnell. That is spiteful.

Report on School Computers

MR HIRD: It is a hard act to follow Mr Berry, but I will attempt to do so.

Mr Smyth: No, do not bother.

MR HIRD: Yes, that is quite right. I will not bother. It is a sad state of affairs. My question is to the Minister for Education, Mr Bill Stefaniak. What is the Minister's response to a recent Commonwealth report, "Real Times: Computers, Change and Schooling", released by the Federal Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Dr David Kemp?

MR STEFANIAK: I thank Mr Hird for the question. Yes, the report was released by Dr Kemp's department. I am not sure how much Dr Kemp had to do with it, but I will find out. The report was the result of an initiative by DETYA, and it was based on survey samples undertaken within schools throughout Australia back in May 1998. The survey purported to examine the level of computer technology available in schools, and it sought, amongst other things, a judgment call by participating teachers of the level of information technology skill possessed by their students. It is a strange report, Mr Hird, in that it claims that the ACT has the worst computer-to-student ratio in the country. It certainly made me scratch my head a little bit on that one, as it did a number of other people.

Mr Speaker, this flies in the face of all the evidence available to this Government, and indeed the anecdotal evidence reported to me in my department. If you have wandered around our government system and looked at the number of computers in recent times, you must scratch your head and think there is something in this report - pardon my pun -that just does not compute.

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