SmartONe Launched at Upper Plenty
Wed, May 4, 2005; by Bill Coppinger.Upper Plenty welcomes Premier, Treasurer, Ministers and Local MPs 
I am not sure if Principal Tierney and the students and staff at the beautiful Upper Plenty Primary school realised that when they woke this morning they would be hosting what almost amounted to a State Cabinet meeting for the announcement of an $89 million dollar initiative that according to Ministers Thomson and Allan will make the Victorian Government education system a world leader in access to broadband services!
The Launch of SmartOne
Student leaders warmly welcomed the Premier, Mr. Steve Bracks, The Treasurer, Mr. John Brumby, Minister for Education Services, Ms. Jacinta Allan, Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Ms. Marsha Thomson, Local members Mr. Ben Hardman [Seymour], Ms. Danielle Green [Yan Yean] and Mr. David Thodey, Group Managing Director from Telstra Business and Government.
The Premier and Treasurer also met with Principal Kim Tierney and had the added opportunity of viewing the new playground! A number of students thought it was very exciting to see that "the government had turned up to see our playground!!"
Ministers Thomson and Allan also had the opportunity to speak with students from the school about the use of ICT in their classrooms and the students 
seemed genuinely interested and obviously excited about "all the fuss" being made.
The students were amazed to see the large number of television and print media and were even more amazed when they realised they were all coming in to their classroom!
The Minister for Information and Communication Technologies, Marsha Thomson, said the Government would upgrade its ICT infrastructure and services, particularly in education and e-government.
The Minister's press release states:
The $89 million SmartONE education initiative will not only boost broadband services for schools but will also deliver Australia's most complete optical fibre network.
"SmartONE highlights the benefits of the Bracks Government's strategies outlined in the recently
released Broadband Framework," Ms Thomson said.
"The reduced prices and infrastructure commitments obtained through the Government's telecommunications purchasing strategy provided the best telecommunications package in Australia.
"It will make it possible for schools to leap to next generation optical fibre technologies and for all of Government to increase its use of broadband.
"This increased broadband use will see Telstra, as Government's contracted data supplier, deliver more than $100 million in telecommunications infrastructure throughout Victoria, especially in regional areas."
The Minister for Education Services, Jacinta Allan, said the SmartONE initiative would give all Victorian Government schools the best broadband network of any Australian state and the best in the world.
Mr. David Thodey, Group Managing Director of Telstra Business and Government Division pointed out that Telstra was investing 100 Million Dollars in infrastructure to ensure that every school community had access to high speed internet.
It was also pointed out by the Premier that this initiative include opportunities for Local Governments and other State agencies to gain the benefit from the new deal.
The morning concluded with students and staff serving delicious morning tea, chocolate biscuits, sticky buns and scones!
CRLLEN Members should note that these announcements provide an exciting and very timely opportunity to re-consider the planning and provision for coordinated Telecommunications infrastructure across our three shires as part of the COINS initiative.
The objectives of the COINS network are:
- To improve the outcomes for young people entering the work-force or further study.
- To improve the skills available in local communities.
- To reduce the recurring costs of modern communications to agencies and communities in the region
- To improve the range of services and applications available to communities in these areas
- To provide infrastructure that can be used as an attractor for higher levels of education and training
- To promote collaboration between existing organisations with overlapping requirements and resources
- To provide mechanisms by which communities and local economies can promote regional skills, both internally to the communities and externally to the rest of Australia and the world
It appears that the SmartOne announcement, as part of a broader commitment to Information and Communication Technology investment across the state, will provide opportunities for the small communities across our three local government areas in a time frame we did not think possible as recently as six months ago.
We will have more news next week regarding this initiative and will keep our members informed.
Related Links
- Summary of State Budget 2005-2006
- COINS Initiative
- 146 Million ICT Announcement
- 'SmartOne' Announcement
