Australia's 'digital divide' is growing

As the cost-of-living crisis intensifies, research reveals a growing digital divide in Australia, with the gap worsening since 2022. Certain groups, such as the unemployed, lower-income households and those without university education, have lower engagement with digital government services.

Cost-of-living crisis and struggle for Australians

A range of statistics show a worrying increase in people suffering food insecurity and, with the economy at a critical juncture, circumstances could get worse for many Australians who will urgently need government support. Finder’s Cost of Living Pressure Gauge shows a rise in July to 80% — the ‘extreme range’.

The Digital Citizen Report 2024 has found that the number of Australians describing their financial situation in 2023 as precarious has increased by 85% compared to 2022. This has led to a knock-on effect on digital outcomes, with those under financial pressure significantly less likely to get the help they need. A third (33%) of respondents in households earning less than $100,000 struggled to find, use or understand online government services. This is compared to just 23% of higher earners. We also saw a roughly 10% gap between higher and lower earners who used myGovID and digital wallets.

The importance of government life-event services

Building a connected journey to support life events is complicated, and involves leadership and collaboration between organisations. The Australian Government’s life-event services are a clear success story, but they’re not being used by those who likely need them most.

Among people who have used them, there’s a 93% satisfaction rate, but the Digital Citizen Report 2024 shows that many Australians did not use (49%) or did not even think to use (36%) the online services available to them following a life event. This means they are more likely to miss out on those services altogether, or try to access them via phone lines or through service centres such as Centrelink, which is more expensive and time-consuming for both citizens and government departments.

More could be done to increase adoption and reach sections of the public who are not taking advantage of the available services, as well as to tailor services to meet their specific needs. For example, when prompted, those in precarious financial situations were more than three times as likely to see room for improvement on housing services (23%), compared to comfortable earners (7%) who likely have lower need of these services.

What government can do to bridge the gap

Inclusivity is a priority for all levels of government: marginalised and vulnerable users need to be considered, to ensure that services are accessible and available for people who can’t use digital channels. There are several examples of these overseas.

For example, the US Lifeline Program offers discounted phone and broadband services to low-income households, ensuring disadvantaged citizens can access essential government services online. In India, the Digital India initiative provides free internet access through Common Service Centres (CSCs) in remote areas and promotes digital literacy.

In Australia, there are programs such as Be Connected which provide training to seniors, and low-income families receive affordable internet plans, ensuring equitable access to digital services across rural and urban areas.

It’s also important to understand why people aren’t accessing services. Is it due to financial constraints and access to technology, or a lack of tech knowledge or confidence in using digital services? There are correlations between higher educational level and higher usage, so it may be that offering free digital education through community organisations would be helpful. Australia is also linguistically diverse with a high migrant population, but not all government services may be available in the languages people are most comfortable using.

Collaboration with businesses and non-government agencies and organisations is also important to reach certain sectors of the population effectively and understand the barriers to usage.

The Australian Government has made a very solid start with digital services and, among those using them, satisfaction rates are encouraging. But there’s still work to be done in continuing to raise awareness of these services, ensuring access to them and encouraging adoption.

*Mark Williams is Senior Client Partner & Federal Government Lead at Publicis Sapient ANZ. Since 2021, Mark has driven the growth of Publicis Sapient’s Federal Government offering, leading transformative projects for key clients such as Austrade, the Department of Agriculture and the Australian Skills Quality Authority. Based in Canberra, he specialises in digital strategy, technology transformation and user experience.

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