Australia has recently announced a new digital business plan aimed at the country’s economic recovery.
The Morrison Government has recognized that economic recovery depends largely on the use of digital technologies and thus increases investment in the sector. According to this week’s report released by the Prime Minister, the Government has approved a digital business plan, where the Government is investing nearly $ 800 million to enable businesses to use and engage digital technologies to help them grow their businesses. In this way, the country also wants to ensure the creation of new jobs, which are part of the economic recovery plan.
One of the main reasons was the response to COVID-19 and the accelerated adoption of digital technologies by Australian businesses as well as consumers.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said:
This year’s Budget would support businesses to recover, build back and create more jobs as part of our economic recovery plan.
Many businesses moved online quickly when the pandemic hit, undergoing a decade of change in months, finding new customers or new ways of doing things,
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said:
The Government was investing in Australia’s digital economy to keep businesses in business and Australians in jobs as part of our economic recovery plan.
Our Digital Infrastructure package is estimated to increase Australia’s GDP by $6.4 billion a year by 2024 and around $1.5 billion of this additional economic activity is estimated to flow to regional Australia each year.
The most important points of the digital plan are:
- $256.6 million to develop a Digital Identity system to enable more secure and convenient engagement with government services, and in future, the private sector. Digital identity is already being used by over 1.6 million Australians and 1.16 million businesses to access over 70 government services.
- A further $419.9 million to enable the full implementation of the Modernising Business Registers (MBR) program, allowing businesses to quickly view, update and maintain their business registry data in one location;
- $29.2 million to accelerate the rollout of 5G, including an initiative to invest in 5G commercial trials and testbeds in key industry sectors such as agriculture, mining, logistics and manufacturing.
- $22.2 million to support small business operators to take advantage of digital technologies through an expansion of the Australian Small Business Advisory Service – Digital Solutions program, a Digital Readiness Assessment tool and a Digital Directors training package;
- $9.6 million to support fintechs to export financial services and attract inward investment;
- $6.9 million for two Blockchain pilots directed to reduce business compliance costs;
The Digital Business Plan was created as part of the Government’s economic recovery plan for economic growth and job creation, and one of the main goals is to make Australia a leading digital economy and society by 2030.
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