Australian government calls for proposals for regional digital services
21 Aug 2009
The Australian government has called for proposals to deliver innovative digital services for regional, rural and remoter Australia as part of its Digital Regions Initiative.
The initiative is a four year, $60 million programme to fund innovative digital enablement projects with state, territory and local governments.
The initiative aims to provide support for community centered digital services outside of metropolitan areas, with special focus on digital health services, disaster response and online education.
Senator Stephen Conroy, minister for broadband, communications and digital economy announced final guidelines for the Digital Regions Initiative and called for expression of interest for funding as the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout gets underway.
Conroy said that regional, rural and remote Australia had much to gain from the government's broadband investments and the programme would provide support for community-focussed digital initiatives.
He added that Australia has a wealth of innovators who understand the transformative potential of digital technologies and he looked for to seeing proposals put forward.
According to the federal government website, state, territory and local governments seeking funding must offer matching funds to "enable projects of greater scale, coverage and benefit to regional Australians".
