Digital Regions initiative: from $46m to $60m and now $53.4m

Stuart Corner
Monday, 15 June 2009 10:11

IT Industry - Strategy

Communications minister Stephen Conroy has issued draft guidelines for the Government's "$60 million" Digital Regions Initiative, and they indicate funding will be only $53.4m. A spokesman for the minister said that $6.6m had been set aside to cover administration and running costs for the four years of the programme.

The Digital Regions initiative was announced in March with a budget of $46m as one of the Government's responses to the Glasson review of regional and rural communications. The money will be allocated under a competitive selection process for digital education, health and emergency services in regional, rural and remote Australia. Funding was increased to $60m in the May Federal Budget.

Conroy today (15 June) released a for comment draft of the guidelines that will be used to guide the process of selecting recipients of the funding. He said: "The $60 million Digital Regions Initiative will ensure Australians living outside our major metropolitan centres enjoy the benefits of digital education, health and emergency services." Although the draft guidelines states in tis introduction  that "The four year $60 million Digital Regions Initiative comprises $46 million announced as part of the Australian Government’s initial response to the Regional Telecommunications Review and additional funding of $14 million as part of the Government’s Rural and Regional Broadband Network Initiative announced in the May 2009 Budget," it later says: "The Digital Regions Initiative will make available up to $53.4 million over two funding rounds."

According to the draft guidelines, applications for funding under round 1 may be made only by state, territory or local governments and successful applications will be required to at least match grant funding which can range from $2m to $7m (GST exclusive) for any single project. However, applicants proposing projects that are multi-jurisdictional or have a national focus may seek a higher level of funding.

Government entities can apply jointly and private sector entities can participate as long as this is under lead entity that is a state, territory or local government body.

The first competitive funding round will call for expressions of interest to be lodged by 31 August 2009. According to the draft guidelines the aim of this process is "to provide potential applicants with the opportunity to collaborate with other projects, either within their jurisdiction or to strengthen their application through cross-jurisdictional linkages." These EoIs will be published on the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy website and full project proposals will be required by 30 September 2009.

Project funding will be provided to enable service delivery, but it is not intended that funding be used for establishing fibre linkages. Projects may include digital technology applications; costs associated with the introduction of digital applications; enhancement to capabilities of existing network infrastructure; network engineering and improvements that ensure an efficient and effective network; associated capital equipment (servers, network hubs and connectivity elements).


The Department will establish a panel to assess project proposals and to make recommendations to the minister on which applications are suitable for funding, the level of funding for each successful applicant and any conditions to be attached to the offer.