The Internet in Australia report, which is part of the World Internet Project (WIP), was released by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) at Swinburne University today. It found that while 64.4 per cent of Australians remained in favour of the NBN – the proportion that was prepared to give the network their “strong support” had declined.
In 2009 41.5 per cent of Australians strongly supported the building of the NBN. By 2011, when the newly released survey was conducted, that had dropped to 33.6 per cent.
Meanwhile 12.9 per cent of Australians disagreed, and 6.8 per cent strongly disagreed with the development of an NBN.
The survey also asked respondents whether they would connect when the NBN became available in their area.
A third said that they would definitely connect to the NBN while a further quarter said they “probably will”. Around one in five said they ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ will not connect.
The survey, which provides a comprehensive snapshot of Australians’ attitudes to the internet, also canvassed people’s response to current internet access.
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In terms of monthly internet spend 51.4 per cent reported spending more than $50 a month on internet access while 21.3 per cent spent more than $80 a month.
Compared to previous surveys there was a stronger feeling that the Australian Government should allocate funds to ensure all Australians have access to the internet with 63.5 per cent of respondents voting in favour of such a move.
