MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Women):

As Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, I am acutely aware that my department and the community sector works with Canberra’s most vulnerable people. Like all Canberrans, our most vulnerable will benefit greatly from the rollout of the National Broadband Network.

My Department works hard to ensure these people are connected to the services and supports they need to facilitate positive involvement in the community, and broadband delivers the information in a way that is increasingly required by our society.

It has often been said that education is the great leveller in our society.

I believe that high-speed broadband also has a significant role to play in making our society fairer and more inclusive.

It is not simply a “$43 billion dollar hi-tech babysitter” as Graeme Wood, from Wotif.com was flippantly quoted in today’s Australian.

The National Broadband Network will enable people to be connected to services, employment and each other like they never have been before.

And there are three key benefits of high-speed broadband which will be delivered by the NBN to our community from the perspective of my portfolio.

Firstly, high-speed broadband will improve people’s access to services.

We know that currently, people shop online, purchasing goods and services and use the internet to acquire information from vast databases, at home and elsewhere.

ABS data from 2009 shows that nearly 60 per cent of most age groups in Australia and 40 per cent of people in the over age 65 age bracket purchased goods or services online within a 12 month period. The government services, such as some ACT government concessions, motor vehicle registration renewals and participation in ACT government community government consultations can now be accessed online.

But that is what we do now.

As the paradigm of bandwidth shifts, so will the depth of the services we access change into the future. High speed broadband may make it increasingly easy for people who find it difficult to physically get to particular services because of disability, young children or cost.

The national broadband network may improve access to employment allowing some people to work more flexibly at home helping them manage the demands of home and work and maybe even their disability.

It is in this way that high speed broadband offers the opportunity for improved social inclusion. It allows people to stay in contact with family and friends when even geographically separate. We know that people have - many families have other family member’s interstate and for migrants, their families are often overseas.

The future of broadband allows all of us to stay connected using rich and interacting video conferencing at home with friends or even our colleagues in the workplace. And all citizens in the Canberra community will stand to gain from an improved access to services, flexibility of employment and greater social inclusion.

However, there is danger that our community relies ever more on the internet technology for people’s participations in services, employment and communication and those without such technological access will be left behind as the 'information poor'.

In Canberra such vulnerable groups include people from low income households, people with a disability, aging, people from diverse backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, children and young people. For such people in households without the kind of broadband access that many of us take for granted there is no level playing field.

While the NBN will be available for every home in Canberra some people on low incomes may find it difficult to afford internet access or maybe without an internet capable device or computer.

This government wants such people to enjoy access to the internet and provides free access to public facilities such as libraries, schools and its support of community organisations. For example, the Women’s Referral and Information Centre in Civic recently received new computers for the use of community members.

While the NBN will enable greater access to high speed internet we must continue to be vigilant in facilitating this access.

Madam Assistant Speaker, the NBN is not simply about enabling to download a 40 gigabyte blue ray quality movie at a click of a button. The NBN will support my department’s strategic plans now and into the future.

The Strategic Plan for Positive Aging 2010-14 commits to the development of an online senior’s information portal to provide information on senior services in the ACT. The strategic plan also commits to assisting seniors who wish to increase their technical skills through the provision of training on information communication technology.

The ACT Young People’s Plan 2009-14 recognises that most young people use online technologies to access information and connect with friends. The plan seeks to increase the amount of information available to assist young people to make inform decisions about services available to meet their needs. The internet has an important role in ensuring that all young people have access to this information.

The ACT Children’s Plan 2010-14 acknowledges the importance of providing opportunities for children to influence decisions about their lives and communities and the plan commits to the establishment of online feedback mechanisms to ensure the concerns of children are heard and responded to in the delivery of the Children’s Program and Services in the ACT.

The ACT Multicultural Strategy 2010-2013 notes that translated information on services and supports is needed for people from multicultural backgrounds. While we currently offer a multicultural e-news bulletin and an ACT multicultural community directory online, I can only begin to imagine the opportunity for automated translation services that a high speed broadband may deliver.

The ACT Women’s Plan 2010-15 highlights that women often experience difficulties in balancing employment and caring responsibilities. Flexible working conditions, including the ability to work from home, can assist women to remain in the workforce and reduce economic disadvantage. The internet also provides a valuable way in preventing social isolation for women, particularly those involved in caring responsibilities.

Future Directions Towards Challenge 2009-2014 seeks to ensure that people living with a disability have access to information and support to assist them to participate in the community. Internet provides a mechanism for supporting people living with a disability to access services such as groceries, banking and training opportunities. Internet also provides people living with a disability with information on support services and the ability to participate in the workforce through flexible working options.

Reliable high speed broadband will enable people with disabilities to make better use of web 2.0 tools, such as blogs, wikis and social media platforms to access e-government services.

These, and other as yet undeveloped tools, are beginning to offer a quiet but profound revolution for people with disabilities to access government services online, contribute to public policy decisions and discussions and socialise and engage in the community through the use of social media and receive support online from professionals. The national broadband network will assist in the implementation of these plans by providing greater internet access to all citizens regardless of age, cultural background, gender or disability.

The national broadband network offers great potential to increase social inclusion in our society and I urge everyone in this place to embrace the opportunities that this provides to our community.