Broadband to boost regional exports
2005-06 State of the Regions report
7 November 2005
Expanding broadband access in regional Australian would significantly boost the nation's export potential, a new report has found. The report provides clear evidence that regional Australia is under-performing in terms of its potential use of information and communication technology with negative implications for exports.
But investment of as little as $3bn to extend broadband cover could create more than 10,000 jobs and provide an annual benefit to the nation of more than $920m a year, or more than $27bn over 30 years (in 2004 dollar terms).
Those regions that stand to gain the most are generally pastoral regions, including:
| WA Wheatbelt-Great Southern | 532 jobs | $41.1m a year |
| VIC Goulburn | 447 jobs | $33.5m a year |
| VIC Gippsland | 423 jobs | $49.9m a year |
| VIC Mallee - Wimmera | 398 jobs | $34.3m a year |
| NSW North | 363 jobs | $26.1m a year |
| NSW Central West | 336 jobs | $25.3m a year |
| QLD Wide Bay - Burnett | 331 jobs | $23.0m a year |
| QLD Agricultural SW | 329 jobs | $22.7m a year |
| SA Eyre and Yorke | 327 jobs | $45.7m a year |
| WA Gascoyne - Goldfields | 319 jobs | $39.3m a year |
Some 424 jobs would be generated in Tasmania with an annual benefit of $30.1m.
The 2005-06 State of the Regions report, released today (Monday 7 November), also ranks Australia's 64 regions according to potential export gains from improvements in the use of information and communication technology by industry.
Prepared for the Australian Local Government Association by National Economics and sponsored by Jardine Lloyd Thompson, State of the Regions report provides a comprehensive stock-take of the economic and social well-being of Australia's 64 regions and their prospects for economic development and employment growth.
The report examines the potential of broadband to improve the use of ICT by firms in each region, helping them move along a six-stage "e-journey", commencing with no computer use through to a "transformation stage" in which businesses are using all the benefits of digital technology.
ALGA President, Cr Paul Bell, said that the report clearly demonstrated the benefit of well-targeted investment by government and others in expanding broadband. "We must get on with the task of building our nation through major investment in improving and extending broadband. The regions that need the most help will gain the most benefit," he said.
"The report shows that a strategy of fibre optic 'deepening' to extend ADSL cover to most of the remaining un-enabled ADSL exchanges in Australia could cost as little as $3bn. Given the benefits from exports estimated in the report, this would unlock an internal rate of return to the nation in terms of increased gross product, of 20% a year. And this is a conservative estimate," he said.
| Region No of firms E-journey rank Score Aust. Ranking | ||||
| SA Murraylands | 289 | 64 | 5.87 | 1 |
| QLD Pastoral | 221 | 63 | 5.69 | 2 |
| NSW North | 707 | 53 | 5.59 | 3 |
| VIC Mallee-Wimmera | 649 | 61 | 5.57 | 4 |
| SA South East | 260 | 52 | 5.54 | 5 |
| WA Wheatbelt-Gt Southern | 608 | 60 | 5.51 | 6 |
| VIC West | 416 | 58 | 5.47 | 7 |
| NSW Far and NW | 517 | 51 | 5.45 | 8 |
| QLD Agricultural SW | 746 | 57 | 5.37 | 9 |
| NSW Central West | 569 | 56 | 5.36 | 10 |
Report co-author, Dr Peter Brain, said that the regions that would have most to gain in terms of export potential from improvements in the e-journey were chiefly agricultural.
"The export propensity results are crucial in understanding why the government and the people must support the geographically broadest possible scope for high grade broadband in this country," Dr Brain said.
"Those regions with the most heavily trade-exposed industries are the ones which have the largest amount to gain. These same regions are also more likely to have firms with the lowest e-journey staging performance.
"For example, the region with the most to gain from exports is the SA Murraylands, but this region was ranked the lowest in e-journey staging. Improving the e-journey staging for this region by one unit would have the impact of a further 289 firms (5.87%) being likely to export," Dr Brain said.
- Contact:
- Dr Peter Brain, Executive Director, National Economics - 03 9488 8444 / 0419 588 021
- Cr Paul Bell AM, ALGA President - 0418 791 596
- Rohan Greenland, ALGA Public Affairs - 0412 85 9434 / 02 6122 9434
