ACCAN worked with Dr Greg Ogle of the South Australian Council of Social Services to analyse the detailed telecommunications data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2015-16 Household Expenditure Survey. This analysis provides a more detailed view of the telecommunications expenditure of different groups in Australia.

Some key findings are that:

• Telecommunications is a significant household expenditure item and on average, households spend more on telecommunications than on energy or water
• Children are a key factor in increasing telecommunications expenditure
• Telecommunications expenditure is significantly regressive, accounting for nearly three times the proportion of household disposable income for the lowest income quintile as for the highest quintile
• Lone person households, pensioners and other social security recipients, and those renting (particularly from state housing authorities):
  • spend proportionately more of their income on telecommunications than other households, but
  • spend significantly less on telecommunications - and are therefore likely to be more digitally excluded
• Since 2003 telecommunications expenditure has been increasing for households on lower incomes, while average households have seen decreases in recent years.
  
  

Download: Telecommunications Expenditure report158.06 KB

Download: Telecommunications Expenditure report1.12 MB

Download: Telecommunications expenditure infographic.pdf93.2 KB

ACCAN has created an infographic that illustrates some of the report’s most important findings.