Falling Through the Net: The Digital Divide in Western Australia
21 Mounts Bay Road
Perth WA
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre launched its Focus on WA report: Falling Through the Net: The Digital Divide in Western Australia with special guest speaker, Eddie Woo, Australia’s Local Hero for 2018 and Leader, Mathematics Growth for the NSW Department of Education.
Digital transformation underpins many of the technological advances in an era that is often regarded as the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. New data technologies, big data analytics and intelligent software systems are transforming the way we produce, consume and distribute commodities, and increasingly, the way we access services.
Yet not everyone can take advantage of the remarkable opportunities in this new digital age, whether due to poverty, geography, incapacity or a lack of infrastructure. Society may be at risk of a digital divide being created between those who are connected, and those who are not. The challenge for governments and society is to make sure that everyone is able to be a part of the new digital wave.
This eleventh report in BCEC’s Focus on WA series will explore the magnitude and key drivers of the digital divide for WA and highlight potential solutions towards bridging the divide for the most disadvantaged groups.
View highlights from the launch event here:
Panellists at the event included Eddie Woo; Professor Peter Klinken AC, Chief Scientist of Western Australia; Marion Burchell, Acting Chief Executive & Government Chief Information Officer WA and Pia Turcinov, Chair, Women in Technology WA (WiTWA), alongside special guest speakers, Hon. Michael Keenan MP, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation; Minister for Human Services, Rowan Munchenberg, Managing Director, Bankwest; Professor Deborah Terry AO, Vice-Chancellor, Curtin University, with report findings presented by BCEC’s Professor Alan Duncan and Dr Daniel Kiely.
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Further Information
Falling Through the Net
New data technologies, big data analytics and intelligent software systems are transforming the way we produce, consume or distribute commodities, and increasingly, the way we access services. They are also changing the way in which we engage with our personal, social and business... Read article
A quarter of the poorest Western Australians do not access the internet
— 69 per cent of very remote households in Australia connected to the internet — — Micro businesses more likely to earn most of their income online — — 61 per cent of those aged 65+ access the internet —... Read article
PDF. (9 MB, pdf)
Program
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre team acknowledges the Wadjuk Nyungar people as the traditional owners of the land on which the Centre is situated.