Australians Major Users Of New Technology: Report

Senator the Hon Richard Alston

Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Australia is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of Internet infrastructure, penetration and use, according to a benchmarking study released today by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston.

The Current State of Play: Australia's Scorecard, produced by the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE), has found that overall Australia was ranked third in the world behind only the United States and Sweden.

According to the Report, Australians are major adopters of Information Economy-enabling technologies such as the Internet, computers and mobile phones.

The Scorecard's high ranking of Australia's Internet performance indicates that Australia has firmly established itself as a leading country within the global Information Economy.

Australia's top standing in fundamental aspects of the Information Economy such as online participation, infrastructure development and business e-readiness demonstrates that Australians have incorporated the Internet into their lifestyle and business strategies.

Some key performance indicators for Australia include:

- 67% of Australia households own or lease a PC;

- 52% of households were connected to the Internet;

- 72% of Australians aged 16 years and over have Internet access from any location;

- 73% of Australian males and 72% of females aged 16 years and over have Internet access; and

- 80% of people aged 16-34 and 68% of people aged 35 years and over in Australia have Internet access.

The report is the fifth of the Current State of Play series, and focuses exclusively on benchmarking Australia against 13 other countries of significance in the Information Economy field across 23 indicators. These countries include France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. In overall ranking Australia was placed third (55.7 points) behind the United States (67.3) and Sweden (58.4).

The Current State of Play: Australia's Scorecard is available at www.noie.gov.au

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