We are nearly at the end of a six-week period of campaigning throughout which the major parties have released their policies and plans should they win Government on 21 May.
So what have the major parties said on issues important to the digital advertising industry? We have collated some key points for our members from their published policies on 3 key areas of interest to our industry below: Digital economy & innovation, Online safety, and Jobs and skills. We would caveat this by saying that this is a brief summary only, based on what the parties have published on their websites – rather than a full or comprehensive assessment.
For those interested in doing a full comparison, you can see the current Government’s policies here and the Labor Party’s here.
I would also note that some policies put forward by the Government build on their existing policy platforms, of course reflecting the fact they are the current Government. You will recognise some of these, for example, Online Privacy legislation. Labor’s policies of course do not specifically address all of these issues in its published policies; however, it would need to consider its position on how to move forward (or not) with existing initiatives if it is successful on Saturday.
- Digital economy and innovation
The Government
- Build Australia’s digital infrastructure with a $1.3 billion package to improve mobile and broadband connectivity in regional, rural, remote and outer-urban Australia and continue delivering our $4.5-billion NBN upgrade plan.
- $1 billion Technology Investment Boost for small business, providing a $120 tax deduction on every $100 a small business spends on digital technologies.
- Grow innovative tech start-ups by maintaining venture capital tax incentives, improving the regulatory and tax arrangements for Employee Share Schemes and implementing the Digital Games Tax Offset.
- Establish world-class research and industry capabilities in emerging technologies through the Quantum Commercialisation hub, a National Quantum Strategy and continuing to roll out our $124 million Artificial Intelligence Action Plan.
- Introducing mandatory cyber security standards and voluntary cyber security labelling for smart devices.
- Legislate to strengthen unfair contract terms.
- Expand Australia’s Consumer Data Right into energy, telecommunications, open finance and other sectors, making it easier for consumers and small businesses to take control of their data.
- Reform Australia’s payments system for the digital age by modernising the rules governing how Australians transact, including through new forms of payment such as digital wallets, Buy Now Pay Later services and crypto assets.
- Implement Digital Trade Strategy to shape global digital rules and open up new opportunities for Australian businesses and consumers.
- Position Australia as a top 10 data and digital economy by 2030 via Digital Economy Strategy.
Labor
5 million homes and businesses to gain access to NBN fibre; expand full fibre NBN access to 660,000 more regional homes and businesses.
- 90 per cent of Australians in the fixed line footprint to have access to world-class gigabit speeds by 2025. Fixed wireless network to offer speeds between 100 and 250 megabits per second for all users.
- Increase NBN satellite data allowances to 90 gigabytes a month and unmetered data between midnight and 4 pm, with an ambition to go beyond 100 gigabytes.
- Keep the NBN in public hands, keeping internet costs for families affordable while ensuring improvements to the network.
- Support the creation of new firms and strengthen existing ones by leveraging Commonwealth spending under Labor’s Buy Australian Plan.
- Support the creation of new firms and jobs through ‘Startup Year’, by offering 2,000 Commonwealth supported places to people from diverse backgrounds at accredited university accelerators. This investment will support aspiring entrepreneurs to commercialise their ideas and scale up. The Startup Year loans will be income contingent and delivered through the existing HELP system. This policy aims to support more productive relationships between industry and the tertiary sector.
- Make unfair contract terms illegal so small businesses can negotiate fairer agreements with large partners – aimed at businesses with fewer than 100 staff or a turnover of less than $10 million.
- Strengthening the Modern Slavery Act and appointing an Anti-Slavery Commissioner to work with business, civil society, NGOs and State and Territory government to ensure compliance and improve transparency of supply chains.
- Online Safety
The Government
- Legislating new Online Privacy laws to better protect Australians’ data and personal information, including ensuring social media companies act in the best interests of children.
- Legislating anti-trolling laws to make social media companies more accountable for defamatory comments from anonymous posters.
- Strengthening Australia’s classification scheme by tightening requirements and improving labelling on content of community concern.
- Provide ACMA with stronger enforcement and information-gathering powers for harmful disinformation and misinformation online.
- Introduce new criminal offences, tougher penalties and mandatory reporting to combat ransomware and other cyber scams.
- Investing $16.6 million to the eSafety Commissioner to support women and children experiencing technology-facilitated abuse by establishing a new eSafety telephone service (with $10 million to further expand coordination with other regulatory and law enforcement agencies, ensuring victims “tell-us-once” and are supported into the right service).
- $5 million to extend the eSafety Commissioner’s online safety communications campaign to increase awareness across Australia.
- Delivering a $23 million eSafety schools package to raise awareness of eSafety support across every school in Australia, provide training programs for teachers and ensure schools have the resources and tools they need to keep kids safe online
- Requiring tech companies to install enhanced parental controls on smartphone and tablet devices that are easier to find and activate (particularly when first setting up a device), and harder for kids to bypass – including website blockers and filters, app store permissions, screen time limits and parental access. If industry doesn’t act within 12 months, regulate to force them.
Labor
- Task a Minister with direct portfolio responsibility for championing the protection of consumers and businesses online.
- Bring in new industry codes for banks, telecommunications providers, social media providers and Government agencies to clearly define responsibilities for protecting consumers and businesses online.
- Ensure that technology platforms who profit from the sale of online advertising are made responsible for the prompt removal of scam advertising from their sites.
- Review penalties for perpetrators and remedies for consumers currently in place for online fraud, misleading conduct and deceptive practices.
- Establish a National Anti-Scam Centre, based on the successful UK ‘Fusion Cell’ model, bringing together law enforcement, banks, telecommunications providers and consumer advocates to harden national defences protecting Australian consumers and small businesses.
- Double funding for identification recovery services to help Australians who have fallen prey to scammers get their stolen ID back quicker.
- Following on from recommendations of the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry report, national rollout of the eSmart Digital Licence+ for primary and secondary school students, as well as the eSmart Media Literacy Lab for secondary school students, to be developed and delivered by the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, to ensure all Australian children have access to critical knowledge and skills in the digital economy.
- Jobs and skills
Government
- Grow the digital workforce and address digital skills shortages, including working towards a target of at least 40-per cent women in the tech workforce by 2030 ($3.9m), establishing a Tech Workforce Roundtable to bring together industry, the education sector and government to boost the tech workforce and develop a technology skills passport ($5m) to open pathways to jobs in tech.
- Small businesses tax incentives to upskill and train their employees and go digital.
- Extra 1.3 million jobs over the next 5 years and $3.7 billion for 800,000 new training positions (overall – not tech specific).
- Increased skilled migration to around 70% of the migration program in 2022-23.
Labor
- Establish Jobs and Skills Australia to plan for the future workforce needs of the nation.
- An additional 340,000 additional tech-related jobs and help more Australians to get the skills needed to secure well-paid work in this growing industry.
- Goal of 1.2 million tech-related jobs by 2030.
- 465,000 fee-free TAFE places and an extra 20,000 university places focusing on high priority areas such as tech.
- Enshrine secure work as an objective of the Fair Work Act so that the Fair Work Commission will have to consider job security in its decision-making.