Budget boosts local-government NBN initiatives

Local government bodies will see an uptick in federal support around a number of ICT-related initiatives, particularly related to funding to encourage councils to make the most of the national broadband network (NBN).

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) will receive $5.7m in funding over the next two years to help local government organisations improve what the budget papers called “the efficiency and effectiveness of their service delivery by taking advantage of the bandwidth and high data capacity of the NBN”.

The current funding expands the existing Digital Local Government program from the current roster of 40 councils, to an additional 15 local councils into which the NBN is currently slated to be delivered.

A number of local government programs are already underway to support the establishment of NBN education and service-enablement programs within local councils touched by the NBN.

Barring any changes to the rollout in the event of a Coalition government, the network’s footprint is slated to grow steadily in coming years, with NBN Co recently announcing the addition of over 1.35m premises to the network’s three-year rollout plan. That announcement added nearly 190 new towns and groups of suburbs to the network’s schedule, bringing to 4.85m the total number of properties expected to be connected to the NBN by mid 2016.

The budget also included a $55.6m allocation, over two years, to conduct a referendum on the financial recognition of local government bodies in the Australian Constitution. That referendum will be held simultaneously with the September 14 federal election. – David Braue