BROADBAND CRITICAL TO AUSTRALIA’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: MICKEL
Published Tuesday, 28 August, 2007 at 01:28 PM
Minister for State Development, Employment and Industrial Relations
The Honourable John Mickel
CAIRNS: Queensland Minister for State Development John Mickel said today the provision of broadband services to rural and regional Australia was essential to the nation’s economic development.
Speaking at the Regional Development Council in Cairns today, Mr Mickel said broadband was now well recognised as essential infrastructure, underpinning economic growth and employment and to ensure global competitiveness.
“It is the essential link between innovators and entrepreneurs in rural and regional Australia and their potential global markets,” he said.
“The problem for us in Australia is that although our broadband services in metropolitan areas are reasonable, our regional and rural areas are still missing out.”
According to a 2006 University of Queensland study, regional Australians were missing out on the information economy because of a lack of access to high-speed internet connections.
“And this is a big problem. For example, about 660,000 people live in rural Queensland and the industries within these communities provide more than 65 percent of our exported goods and a whopping 80 percent of our export revenue.
“These communities are absolutely necessary to the State’s economic vitality. But I’m mindful that as the digital divide between broadband services in the city and bush widens, these communities continue to miss out and that could well have major repercussions for our State’s economy,” Mr Mickel said.
He said while broadband infrastructure was primarily the responsibility of the Federal Government through its regulatory powers, the Queensland Government had been active in regional broadband for several years.
“For example, we managed the Broadband Demand Aggregation Project,” Mr Mickel said.
An initiative of the Federal Government’s National Broadband Strategy, the project aimed to develop broadband markets where there were pockets of existing or potential demand, which were either too small or too isolated to be financially attractive to suppliers.
He said the Queensland Government also worked very closely with regional development organisations, helping them secure Commonwealth funding for broadband infrastructure programs under the Clever Networks Innovative Service Delivery Project.
He said while broadband on the whole was a Federal issue, the Queensland Government was not just leaving it up to the Feds, and the State was exploring all options to ensure the very best in Broadband outcomes.
“We are working with private sector infrastructure builders, local communities, major carriers and the Commonwealth to make sure that Queensland’s regional and rural communities don’t miss out,” he said.
Queensland is hosting the Cairns meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC).
Comprising Federal, state and territory ministers responsible for regional development, the RDC is the inter-governmental Ministerial Council responsible for regional development issues in Australia.
The RDC aims is to facilitate more effective cooperation across all spheres of government in order to achieve sustainable economic, social and environmental outcomes for regional Australians.
Ministerial contact: Chris Brown 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion 3224 6784.
28 August, 2007
Speaking at the Regional Development Council in Cairns today, Mr Mickel said broadband was now well recognised as essential infrastructure, underpinning economic growth and employment and to ensure global competitiveness.
“It is the essential link between innovators and entrepreneurs in rural and regional Australia and their potential global markets,” he said.
“The problem for us in Australia is that although our broadband services in metropolitan areas are reasonable, our regional and rural areas are still missing out.”
According to a 2006 University of Queensland study, regional Australians were missing out on the information economy because of a lack of access to high-speed internet connections.
“And this is a big problem. For example, about 660,000 people live in rural Queensland and the industries within these communities provide more than 65 percent of our exported goods and a whopping 80 percent of our export revenue.
“These communities are absolutely necessary to the State’s economic vitality. But I’m mindful that as the digital divide between broadband services in the city and bush widens, these communities continue to miss out and that could well have major repercussions for our State’s economy,” Mr Mickel said.
He said while broadband infrastructure was primarily the responsibility of the Federal Government through its regulatory powers, the Queensland Government had been active in regional broadband for several years.
“For example, we managed the Broadband Demand Aggregation Project,” Mr Mickel said.
An initiative of the Federal Government’s National Broadband Strategy, the project aimed to develop broadband markets where there were pockets of existing or potential demand, which were either too small or too isolated to be financially attractive to suppliers.
He said the Queensland Government also worked very closely with regional development organisations, helping them secure Commonwealth funding for broadband infrastructure programs under the Clever Networks Innovative Service Delivery Project.
He said while broadband on the whole was a Federal issue, the Queensland Government was not just leaving it up to the Feds, and the State was exploring all options to ensure the very best in Broadband outcomes.
“We are working with private sector infrastructure builders, local communities, major carriers and the Commonwealth to make sure that Queensland’s regional and rural communities don’t miss out,” he said.
Queensland is hosting the Cairns meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC).
Comprising Federal, state and territory ministers responsible for regional development, the RDC is the inter-governmental Ministerial Council responsible for regional development issues in Australia.
The RDC aims is to facilitate more effective cooperation across all spheres of government in order to achieve sustainable economic, social and environmental outcomes for regional Australians.
Ministerial contact: Chris Brown 3224 7349 or Elouise Campion 3224 6784.
28 August, 2007