NBN to drive jobs for remote Aussies: Conroy

James Riley
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 06:45

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The National Broadband Network would drive job opportunities in regional Australia and help remote indigenous communities participate in the mainstream economy, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has told a conference in Geneva.

Speaking on the opening day of the International Telecommunications Union youth forum, Senator Conroy said Government was committed to universal broadband access as a means of breaking down geographic, social and economic barriers.

While the network would deliver benefits to education system – Senator Conroy says that with the computers in schools program the NBN will underpin Julia Gillard's education revolution – its chief ambition was in productivity and economic growth.

"Providing young people with digital skills and confidence lays the groundwork for a new era of digital innovation driving new efficiency, productivity and employment growth," Senator Conroy told the conference.

"This network will be the foundation for national participation in the digital economy. The network will break down barriers, providing access to resources to young people and communities, regardless of their location," he said.

Sharing a platform with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and ITU chief Hamadoun Touré said that as a national open access, wholesale-only network, the NBN was intended "to promote a wave of competition and innovation" and designed to deliver better services, better prices and new applications – no matter where they live.

In the education sector opportunities existed to improve regional and remote services, particularly in distance learning applications for secondary and tertiary students. But improved broadband would also support "foundation skills training" in language, literacy and numeracy for remote and regional Australia.

"The NBN means that training for these skills and others will be available in regional Australia and other areas where the unemployed are keen to gain a new edge," he said.

The ITU Youth Forum included two high-achieving delegates from Australia. Indira Beqaj is a student at the University of Western Sydney where she is completing a double degree in Law and Economics, while Michael Tulip is completing a Bachelor of Business Information Systems/Bachelor of Business (accounting) at the Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria.