Regions miss out on digital investment and reliable internet

Regional Tasmania is suffering from a lack of investment in the digital economy from governments at the state and federal level.

Today Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy Ed Husic visited Launceston with Member for Bass Ross Hart to hear from local startups and small businesses about what’s needed to grow the local digital economy.

Innovation helps generate new firms and new jobs in our regional economies. The innovative drive of regional innovators has helped inject more than $19 billion into the Australian economy and start-ups could create 500,000 jobs across Australia in the near future.

Today we saw the great work that happens in Cowork Launceston, a shared space for start-ups, and a flexible and innovative work space, that facilitates the very beginnings of new ideas.

Regional centres like this should be hubs for innovation and new jobs, but the Turnbull Government doesn’t prioritise invest in the skills, infrastructure or ideas.

For example, evidence provided to recent hearing of the Joint Standing Committee on the NBN revealed that Tasmanians won’t be able to make the most of faster internet speeds because digital literacy levels are too low – and now Tasmania has been ranked last in Australia in Telstra’s 2017 Digital Inclusion report.

Today in the electorate of Bass we heard first hand from a range of smart firms about the disparity of internet services and how this will slow the growth of the local digital economy.

Tasmania confronts a story of two NBNs: Labor’s rollout versus the inferior model forced on Tasmania by Malcolm Turnbull.

Through Labor’s investment Launceston is home to Australia’s fastest internet speeds where local business Launtel is selling 1 Gigabit speeds, while just 13km’s away in Legana businesses are faced with blackouts and uncertainty because of Turnbull Government decisions to cripple the NBN.

Business has been affected by this: like Launceston architecture firm Artas, which operates in Launceston and interstate. They send and receive large files in Launceston almost instantly but their interstate offices are restricted to waiting patiently while files come and go.

On top of the issues with the NBN, the Turnbull Government continues to offer little in the way of support for entrepreneurs in the regions around Australia.

At the last election, Federal Labor championed policies to support the growth of startup communities in regional Australia through the development of a Regional Innovation Fund that would provide funding to establish regional based startup accelerators.

Investment in incubators like the Van Diemen Project co-located here is always welcome in regional areas, this kind of investment is vital for regional economies that are trying to make the most of the opportunities in the digital economy.

As the future of work means jobs from old industries are automated, Tasmania needs a growing digital economy to create the stable, well-paid jobs of the future but Liberal governments here and in Canberra are making that transition tougher.
ED HUSIC MP SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY MEMBER FOR CHIFLEY, ROSS HART FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BASS