Digital Education Revolution

[5] The State Government requested additional funds to cover servicing, technical support, upgraded power supplies, software licensing, security and teacher training associated with installing the computers.

[5] The Director-General for Education, Michael Coutts-Trotter, told The Sydney Morning Herald: "We can't commit at this stage until we can be sure the full cost of implementing the computers can be met.

"NSW can't commit to any infrastructure ahead of the mini-budget," said Firth,[5] "It would be unfair to schools and students to seek new computers only to find that there was insufficient funding for their operating costs from the federal Government" .

Gillard and Firth visited a Year 9 class at Fairvale High School in Sydney's west to witness the integration of laptops into the lesson.

[3] In February 2010, the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment chief information officer David O'Hagan said that there was a possibility the iPad could complement laptops used in public high schools in Queensland, "When it [the iPad] becomes available in Australia, the [Queensland] Department of Education and Training will conduct an evaluation to determine its suitability for teaching and learning as well as network compatibility, schools eligible for computers under the federal government's National Secondary School Computer Fund also use this central purchasing arrangement to buy desktop and laptop computers."

[14] In 2008, letters were leaked that revealed that the Minister of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Julia Gillard was told that the policy was not thought through and severely underfunded.

[15] In 2010, the Rudd Government was again criticised for being too slow to deliver after it was confirmed that "none of the A$100 million budgeted to bring high-speed broadband to schools had been spent".