Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Special Minister of State. How will access to government information improve as the National Broadband Network bridges the digital divide?

Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service and Integrity) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Deakin for his question. I note that he has taken a great interest both in the business of the National Broadband Network and, importantly, the interests of his constituents. The National Broadband Network is a great way of delivering internet services. It will allow Australians, particularly those living in rural, regional and outer metropolitan areas, to engage with government services faster and more reliably and in the way they want to—via the internet.

I will just go through some statistics on the way Australians are currently accessing government services via the internet. These statistics come from AGIMO and are current as at last year. Access to government services via the internet has doubled since 2004. It is currently the channel most used by Australians to contact the government. In 2009, 38 per cent of Australians used the internet for their last contact with the government. In comparison, 32 per cent of contacts were in person and 30 per cent by telephone. Only nine per cent of Australians contact the Australian government via old-fashioned traditional mail.

Just under 31 per cent of Australians used the internet for all or most of their contacts with the Australian government in 2009. Use of the internet to contact government has doubled from 19 per cent in 2004-05 to 38 per cent in 2009. Overall, people strongly prefer the internet and telephone to all other channels because the internet and telephone take less time and can be used at a time that suits the user. This is important: Australians want to access government services via the internet because it takes less time and can be done with ease at work or at home and at a time that suits the user. Australians are now using the internet to find out about services from government and to seek information from government more than they are using any other option available to them.

Broadband black spots plagued the country through most of the past decade as a consequence of the former government’s underinvestment, lack of knowledge of the potential, lack of knowledge of how to fix these problems, and lack of care and consideration for service delivery to our regional centres and outer metropolitan areas. This characterised a government that not only just did not get it but just did not care.

What we now see, as governments increasingly provide information to people via internet broadband services, is that people want to take up those options. People increasingly want to take up those options in order to better inform themselves and in order to seek better personal service from the government. This is a more efficient and effective way for people to find out about their entitlements and about government services. Most importantly, it is a very important way for government to understand what services we need to provide to better serve the interests of all Australians. As the National Broadband Network is invested in around the country and develops the capacity for people in regional and rural centres to better obtain information about government services, I think all of us in this place would do well to understand its principal mission in serving the interests of regional Australians and the value of this investment to our community.