The Australian Digital Inclusion Index defines digital inclusion as being able to access , afford , and effectively use digital technologies
Digital disadvantage
Half of First Nations people sacrifice essentials to stay connected
By Erin Morley
A
2023 research report found just under half of Indigenous communities in Australia have no mobile service due to limited communications infrastructure and affordability constraints in rural and remote areas .
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology ( RMIT ) research said 43 per cent of the 1,545 First Nations communities across Australia either share a public phone or have no telecommunications access , despite almost all modern-day learning and communications occurring online .
The research is tracking the progress of Outcome 17 in the Closing the Gap national agreement , which states all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will have equal levels of digital inclusion by 2026 to be able to make informed decisions about their own lives and participate in Australia ’ s online society .
Western Australia , which the Australian Bureau of Statistics ( ABS ) recognises as mostly ‘ very remote Australia ’, has been focused on increasing its school ’ s technological capacity for learning .
The WA Department of Education told Education Review that while it is not responsible for the delivery of mobile phone services , it works with provider Telstra to ensure WA schools have access to internet and working telephones .
Some regional and remote schools in the state have connections of around 30 megabits per second ( Mbps ) download speed , compared to WA ’ s average download speed of 41.7 Mbps , according to 2022 data from internet speed tester Finder .
The department aims to have 2 Mbps per user in every school , using compression and caching techniques in schools that still rely on satellite connections .
This is enough to load websites and stream low quality video – an average household in NSW has 51.2 Mbps download speed , the highest in the country .
WA Minister for Education Dr Tony Buti announced improvements to public school bandwidths earlier this year , which will see Telstra increase the internet capabilities of 500 WA schools .
The Australian Digital Inclusion Index ( ADII ) defines digital inclusion as being able to access , afford , and effectively use digital technologies , and can be measured in the same way we measure poverty lines and minimum standards of living .
ADII modelling says 45.9 per cent of remote First Nations research participants are highly digitally excluded , compared to only 9.4 per cent of the Australian population , and the national gap in digital access between First Nations people and other Australians is 7.5 points out of 100 .
The lead investigator and RMIT senior research fellow , Dr Daniel Featherstone , said everyone should have equal opportunity to reap the benefits of digital technologies .
“ We use these technologies to access essential services for health , welfare , finance and education , participate in social and cultural activities , follow news and media , as well as connect with family , friends , and the wider world ,” Dr Featherstone said .
This is the first report created that measures the digital inclusion of Indigenous peoples across Australia by level of remoteness , ranging from major cities to outer regional , remote and very remote .
Digital poverty , which the ADII says is an inability to afford the cost of online connection and digital devices , is a significant barrier to online access in remote communities .
The report said despite most remote participants being on low incomes , 94 per cent said they used high-cost pre-paid services , and there is a low household uptake of fixed broadband .
The affordability constraints led to 53.3 per cent of First Nations people surveyed saying they had sacrificed paying for essentials such as food or bills to stay connected , compared to 19.1 per cent of other Australians .
Digital ability is also a concern for those without digital inclusion , as factors such as older age , disability , language barriers , low educational attainment and income can decrease online safety .
The researchers will focus on 12 remote First Nations communities over four years to continue studying the scale and nature of the digital gap and work towards Outcome 17 . ■
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