Grimley logs into push for better internet in schools

DERRYN Hinch’s Justice Party MP Stuart Grimley has added his voice to the calls for better internet in schools in the Geelong region.

Peak lobby group G21 has been advocating tapping into the existing AARNet network used by institutions including the CSIRO and Deakin University for nearly four years as a solution to the existing slow speeds and tight data limits.

The Geelong Secondary Schools and Community Digital Learning Hub project would cost $4.5 million and provide speeds of between 1 gigabyte and 100 gigabytes per second to every secondary school in the Geelong, Colac and Surf Coast municipalities – well in excess of the typical maximum speeds of on the National Broadband Network.

Liberal Member for Western Victoria Beverly McArthur spoke in favour of using AARNet in March, and Mr Grimley (also a Member for Western Victoria) also raised the merits of the third party internet provider in a question on May 30.

“AARNet funnel profits back into creating further internet infrastructure and are currently servicing many Catholic and independent schools, most of which are metropolitan, but also regionally in western Victoria, all with tremendous results,” he said.

“I am aware of a government school in western Victoria that is using AARNet to access the internet, but neither this school nor the Department of Education and Training are providing answers to my queries of the details of this arrangement.

“Rather than dealing in secrecy, I feel we should be willingly sharing information to get the best deal for our kids to learn. What is stopping us from signing up to this innovative infrastructure?

If the future is online, then why are we seemingly living in the past on this issue?”

He said the existing contract to provide internet services to Victorian government schools would end in 2020, with an option to extend it to 2021.

“I have to take issue with this extension, as what is currently being offered to our schools is not working in regional Victoria, and I ask the government to consider other options.”

In a speech in Parliament on March 6, Mr Grimley said Surf Coast Secondary College students were provided with only 150 megabytes of data per month.