The Government has continued its commitment to the Digital Economy Strategy to position Australia as a top 10 digital economy and society by 2030 and drive digital transformation.
As Australia’s Digital Economy continues to grow with the development and adoption of new and emerging technologies, the Government has invested more than $3.5 billion in digital initiatives since the last Budget, including an additional $1 billion in this years’ Budget alone for small businesses that embrace the digital revolution.
Key commitments
The Government will provide $130.1 million over 4 years from 2022-23 to continue its implementation of the Digital Economy Strategy by committing:
- $38.4 million over 3 years from 2022-23, and $12.6 million per year ongoing from 2025-26 to implement the Government’s response to the Inquiry into the Future Directions for the Consumer Data Right which details how enhancements in the Consumer Data Right can make our digital economy more effective, inclusive and safer for use by Australian consumers, and develop an innovative, productive and competitive data ecosystem;
- $30.2 million to extend the whole of government cyber hubs pilot designed to improve resilience and cyber security maturity of government agencies, including the establishment of a fourth Cyber Hub pilot in the Australian Taxation Office;
- $18.6 million over 4 years from 2022-23 (and $3.2 million per year ongoing) to shape global critical and emerging technology standards;
- $13.6 million over 4 years from 2022-23 to continue the Office of Future Transport Technology and support the digitalisation of the transport sector;
- $6.2 million over 2 years from 2022-23 to position Australia as a world leader in regulating the Digital Economy and new technologies and the development of a Digital Age Policy;
- $4.8 million to continue the Digital Technology Taskforce for a further 2 years;
- $3.9 million over 2 years from 2022-23 to support more women to take up digitally skilled roles in Australia’s growing tech workforce;
- $1.8 million in 2022-23 to the Digital Transformation Agency to further support the development of the Digital Identity system, including the governance, regulatory frameworks and funding arrangements associated with the Digital Identity legislation; and
- an undisclosed amount (due to commercial sensitivities) to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to further invest in the Australian quantum computing industry to support growth and fast-track technology development.
Digital health programs
The Government will also continue its investment in digital health programs and enhancing government service delivery by committing:
- $32.3 million in 2022-23 to continue the Intergovernmental Agreement on Digital Health with the states and territories, which supports initiatives such as My Health Record and the Health Care Identifiers Service, for a further year; and
- $2.9 million over 4 years from 2022-23 to improve the security of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s data holdings by migrating them to cloud-based services and off-site data centres.
Technology investment for small businesses
The Government has committed $1 billion to support small businesses to digitalise their operations with a technology investment boost that will encourage investment in digital assets and services such as cloud computing, eInvoicing, cyber security and web design – see also Small Business section above.
The proposed boost will allow small businesses (with aggregated annual turnover of less than $50 million) to deduct an additional 20% of the cost incurred on business expenses and depreciating assets that support their digital adoption.
The boost will apply to eligible expenditure incurred from 7:30pm (AEDT) on 29 March 2022 until 30 June 2023, with an annual cap for expenditure up to $100,000 in each qualifying income year.
