The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications is seeking feedback on the design and implementation of an online Digital Technology Hub. The Digital Technology Hub will support regional, rural and remote Australians to make the most of their phone and internet services. The Digital Technology Hub is intended to provide information and resources to people in non-metropolitan areas, to help them solve issues with their phone and internet.
ACCAN supports the introduction of a Digital Tech Hub for people in regional and remote areas of Australia. Our submission listed a number of recommendations for the Department to adopt, so that the Digital Tech Hub targets the diverse needs of regional Australians, builds on existing knowledge, and is widely publicised.
In our submission to the 2018 Regional Telecommunications Review, ACCAN recommended that the government should develop targeted strategies to support digital literacy in regional and remote Australia.
The Digital Tech Hub seeks to do this, but must be effectively scoped and implemented to deliver this outcome. To this end, ACCAN’s submission highlighted that:
- The Digital Tech Hub should deliver accessible, plain English educational tools that reflect the diverse needs of regional, rural and remote Australians,
- The Department should collaborate with existing organisations through the development and delivery of the Digital Tech Hub, so that expertise is harnessed and work is not duplicated.
- The Digital Tech Hub should be widely promoted using a variety of channels and networks to deliver maximum net benefit.
