SHADOW Regional Communications Minister Stephen Jones has attacked the Coalition government over what it says is a growing digital divide between urban and regional Australia, following the release of a new report.
But Regional Communications Minister and Nationals Deputy Leader Fiona Nash has returned fire saying Labor's “rock-throwing shadow ministers” must get out and visit rural towns more, “if they know where they are”.
Mr Jones highlighted findings of the new report - Measuring Australia’s Digital Divide: The Australian Digital Inclusion Index 2016 - saying it showed an expanding national divide, in the digital world.
The report’s key findings said the measurement index had revealed that “significant differences” between the quality of digital services in rural areas compared to cities.
“Nationally, digital inclusion is now 6.6 points higher in capital cities than in country areas,” it said.
“The ‘capital–country gap’ has widened overall, but not everywhere.
“This ‘geographic digital divide’ is largely due to widening gaps in digital ability and affordability, while the access gap has narrowed.
“Regional and local initiatives are needed to address the geographic digital divide.”
The report said the rural and regional areas well behind in digital inclusion included, included; the Hunter region in NSW; Eyre in South Australia; Northern Victoria; Southern Tasmania; North West Queensland; and much of regional WA.
Mr Jones said the report’s warning about the widening gaps in digital services sent an “alarming” message for the government.
He said the findings would be “particularly alarming” for households and businesses outside of major cities, given the government had a “poor record” in addressing digital inclusion in remote, rural and regional Australia.
“The government has no answers to the problems,” he said.
“Instead of facing these issues the Liberal and National Parties have wrapped themselves in a policy that sees a record roll-out of copper, over $1 billion in payments to Telstra to maintain the old copper network and a plan to abolish Universal Wholesale Pricing.
“These are policies that will grow the digital divide – not improve.
“While the government has been distracted by technology issues, it has completely overlooked the demographic barriers to accessing that technology.”
Mr Jones said Senator Nash had to outline what steps the government would take to address Australia’s digital divide.
“Regional Australians shouldn’t miss out on access to government services and all of the many benefits that should flow from a more equitable access to digital services,” he said.
“This issue is too important to ignore and cannot be left to state or local government alone to address, it requires a national policy response.”
But speaking while visiting at a Sky Muster satellite demonstration van at Winton in Queensland, with NBN Co preparing to roll out services in the region over the next few months, Senator Nash challenged Labor’s attack.
“It was great to hear so much good feedback today about what the Coalition's mix of technologies is doing for rural and remote Australia's residents,” she said.
“I invite Labor's rock-throwing shadow ministers to visit towns like Winton and Longreach once in a while, if they even know where those towns are.
“They might learn something they didn't already know from hanging out in their laneway cafes, sipping chai soy lattes in their tailored suits.”
Senator Nash said while Labor was typing out media releases, the Coalition was “getting on with the job” of delivering the nbn to rural, regional and remote Australia.
"While Labor whinges, the Coalition delivers,” she said.
“The Coalition connected about the same amount of customers to the nbn last month as Labor did in a whole six years of government.
“Labor's bungled Interim Satellite Service left regional Australians with speeds slower than dial-up.
“Under the Coalition, the Sky Muster satellite went up in April and NBN Co is now installing the equipment to connect 10,000 customers a month - Australians who would never have otherwise received broadband.
“We expect a total of 240,000 customers on Sky Muster and its backup satellite in 2018.
“For $50 a month a user receives 35 gigabytes of peak use and another 60 gigabytes off peak.”
Senator Nash said roll out of fixed wireless broadband was more than half complete with about 420,000 rural homes and businesses already able to connect and the network expected to be largely completed in 2018.
She said in contrast, Labor helped build a city andcountry divide in telecommunications by refusing to invest a single dollar into improving mobile phone coverage in the country.
Senator Nash said the Coalition was investing some $220 million into fixing mobile black spots through the Mobile Black Spot Program with the first three rounds expected to cover 4800 locations in rural, regional and remote Australia.
She said the Coalition had also committed to invest $50 million to improve the digital literacy of senior Australians, improve their safety online and develop a digital inclusion and online safety strategy for senior Australians.
"As a farmer and mother from central NSW, I understand the difference fast, reliable internet will make to homes, businesses and rural communities,” she said.
“nbn will allow home businesses to be run from anywhere in the country and allow high definition teleconferencing with colleagues all over the world.
“The nbn will help boost rural employment and help create the kinds of communities our children and grandchildren either want to stay in or come back to.
"The Coalition is on track to achieve its goal of giving every rural, regional and remote Australian the option of connecting to the nbn by 2020.
“When you think about Australia's hills, mountains and the remoteness of some residents, this is a remarkable achievement."
The Australian Digital Inclusion Index measures access, affordability and digital ability and shows how they change over time, according to social and economic circumstances, and across geographic locations.
The report was compiled by Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne for Telstra.
Swinburne Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Linda Kristjanson said a digital divide existed in Australia, “and with it comes the risk of deepening social, economic, and cultural inequalities”.
“As digital technologies become ever-more central to public and private life, the disadvantages of not being connected increase,” she said in the report.
“The Index will make a major contribution to our understanding of the digital divide, and our capacity to address it.”