Minister for Communications and Federal member for Greenway Michelle Rowland joined Flow FM to announce the South Australian Education Department's assistance in making internet access available and free to over 10,000 eligible families for the next 12 months, delivering on a pre-election commitment by the Albanese Government.
Ms. Rowland told Flow FM "we need reliable, quality, high-speed internet for everyone. It's not a luxury, it's not a nice to have, it's absolutely essential to participate in our digital economy and it's particularly important for young people and school students".
"The Albanese Government went to the election with a commitment to support up to 30,000 families right across Australia to have free internet access through the NBN for a year and I'm so pleased today to announce that South Australia's Education Department is now making this assistance available to over 10,000 eligible families in the South Australian school system. So that's great news for those families who will be getting free internet for a year."
Ms. Rowland said the government will be hoping the process will be as easy as possible for families who are currently not connected to the internet.
"Families can go through either their school, they can contact their Department of Education or they can be referred through a partner agency like a nominating charity or even contact their local federal member or senator."
The plan is currently for families to have free internet access for a year, however, Ms. Rowland said this 12-month period is part of a bigger plan to keep families connected gor longer.
"We're using this as pretty much a playbook for how we go forward to assisting families who need to get connected."
"It's irrespective of where you live in Australia, NBN will examine the premise and work out what technology is available to them. But ultimately as I said, this is about connecting unconnected students wherever they may be in South Australia. And I'm very pleased I must say that your South Australian Minister for Education, Blair Boyer, has been very supportive of this initiative."
Listen to interview below
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