Online 'fair go' essential for our digital future: report

Peter Dinham
Wednesday, 16 November 2011 13:56

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Australia's digital future is dependent on grassroots organisations creating 'a fair go for all' online, according to a new report out today, and there's also a warning that access, alone, to high-speed broadband is not enough to make Australia a 'digitally-inclusive' nation.

The report - A fair go for all in the digital era: Towards a Digital Inclusion Roadmap - does make recommendations for a plan to ensure that no-one gets left behind as high-speed broadband is rolled out, including the establishment of a national digital action plan with targets to get all Australians online by 2020.

Compiled by Dr Tim Williams, the report brings together a wide variety of perspectives from not-for-profits, businesses and government emerging from the National Digital Inclusion Summit held in Parliament House earlier this year, and sponsored by Huawei, Community Sector Banking, and the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA).

'The challenge for Australia is clear: grassroots organisations cannot idly wait for government to take the lead on digital inclusion,' Huawei Australia corporate affairs director, Jeremy Mitchell said.

'While Australians increasingly have access to high-speed broadband, access alone is not enough - the onus is on community groups to take action and get people to utilise online services.'

The summit attracted a range of community organisations whose representatives contributed to the discussion on the proactive steps the not-for-profit sector can take to reduce the exclusion felt by many disadvantaged people, which laid the foundations of the report.

Peter Quarmby, executive director of Community Sector Banking, said today that the not-for-profit sector is central to the cultural, social and economic well-being of Australia, and 'proactively embracing and shaping the digital future of the nation will greatly enhance the impact of the sector and reach the whole community.'

And AIIA CEO, Suzanne Campbell said government needs to ensure that targets for online participation can be achieved in an equitable way.

'Everybody needs to be engaged in this process. While the South Australian government is leading Australia with specific targets for use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT): by 2014, 40% of business activity is to be online, the very real challenge is to ensure the benefits of broadband reach everyone in the community,' Campbell added.

Along with the recommendation for the establishment of a national digital action plan, other recommendations in the report are:

'¢    A national digital inclusion and information campaign targeting key target groups who may who may face barriers to getting online - such as young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, older people, people with disabilities, from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds  and living in rural and remote communities.

'¢    Start a community campaign for organisations or individuals to give one hour to enabling a neighbour, colleague, friend or client to 'get online'. 

'¢    That the Commonwealth, state and local governments work with relevant not-for-profit organisations in the shaping and development of digital inclusion programs. 

'¢    The appointment by the federal government of a National Digital Champion drawn from outside politics to help galvanise the campaign for digital participation; and the equivalent at state level.

'¢    That the disposal of ICT equipment by the Commonwealth be diverted to digital inclusion programs.

'¢    That each NFP organisation should appoint its own digital champion focused on the needs of its own client group - and identify the implications of high speed broadband for its own organisation and approach to delivery of services.