ACCAN recently submitted to the Australian Treasury’s pre-budget consultation, to provide our views on priorities for the 2023-2024 Australian Budget. Promoting digital inclusion is key to achieving the Australian Government’s Digital Economy Strategy and to boosting productivity and living standards for Australians. ACCAN’s submission calls on the Australian Government to commit to the following in the 2023-2024 Budget:
- Allocating funding to make essential communications goods and services more affordable and accessible for consumers.
- Allocating funding to make the communications market fairer, including by establishing an independent plan comparison tool.
- Financially supporting digital inclusion initiatives, including coordinated and targeted efforts to improve First Nations’ digital inclusion.
- Allocating funding to support consumer representation in digital platforms policy.
- Guaranteeing long-term funding for ACCAN’s Accessible Telecoms project and supporting other efforts to promote communications accessibility, including the ongoing funding of audio described content on free-to-air commercial television.