By CLAIRE FIELD

One in ten of us are “highly excluded” from digital life. We have to fix it

The OECD’s recently released Development Co-operation Report 2021: Shaping a Just Digital Transformation prompts some important considerations for Australia.

While the report focuses on the big picture, i.e. global digital transformation and the “tipping point” opportunity to significantly progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and while foreign policy and development aid are beyond the scope of this column, there is nonetheless plenty to think about in the report from a domestic perspective.

The domestic policy question it prompts is how we ensure that in this period of profound digital change, we adopt an inclusive approach which provides equal access to technology as well as the necessary levels of digital literacy for all Australians?

The report offers some useful case studies for Australian policymakers to consider, including:

* the government of the Netherlands supporting civil society partners through education and training and the development of guidelines focussed on digital safety, digital inclusion and human rights online

* the Korean International Cooperation Agency’s dual focus on a Digital Mainstreaming Strategy and a Digital Transition Programme in its work with partner countries such as Paraguay. Their four key areas of focus are: digital government, digital accessibility, digital economy and digital safety.

* the German government’s “Digital by Default” strategy supports “structures that enable the sustainability of digital public goods and ensure access to digital opportunities” and requires projects to “identify and justify their reasons for not employing digital components.”

With the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (a collaboration between the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society at RMIT, the Centre for Social Impact at Swinburne University of Technology, and Telstra) showing that one in four people in Australia are digitally excluded and a shocking one in ten are “highly excluded”, a whole of government and civil society effort is urgently required to improve digital inclusion in Australia.

 Claire Field is an advisor to the tertiary education sector and a PhD candidate at RMIT