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OPENING SPEECH AT 'CASOC 2000' --
CREATING AND SUSTAINING ONLINE COMMUNITIES FORUM
Delivered by the HON RICHARD COURT, MLA
THURSDAY, 30 MARCH 2000
Acknowledgements:
* Thank you Gerry;
* My parliamentary colleagues Clive brown and Ed Dermer;
* Local government representatives from throughout Western Australia and interstate
* Speakers and delegates.
Welcome to the creating and sustaining online communities 2000 conference,
and welcome to the city of Mandurah, and its wonderful performing arts centre.
Just as this building was designed to be a world class centre for culture
- so this conference, CASOC 2000, is a world class meeting of minds.
You are here to talk about a revolution......in the past as children we have
learnt of the agrarian and industrial revolutions but all of us here today
are actively participants in a period of change.
There is no doubt that the internet is causing massive change to our social
fabric. It is enabling us to communicate like never before.
The generation of young people being raised today will never know a world
without instant global communications, and it is our responsibility to start
thinking of how we manage and sustain that change.
One of the things we need to look at differently is how we define community.
CASOC stands for creating and sustaining online communities. Online communities
are groups of people who come together using online technology (in cyberspace
as it were) and who share a common interest.
The number and size of these communities is growing.
Forty-seven per cent of all Australians aged over 14 have now accessed the
Internet. In august 1999 it was estimated that 48 per cent of the nation's
households have a computer and 23 per cent had Internet access.
In the business world 50 per cent of Australian businesses have Internet access.
I should point out, however, that by December 1998 nearly 50% of Alaskans were
on line. They were using their oil royalties to implement their on line strategy.
In their case, it's no longer igloo....it's yahoo!!!!!
There is no doubt that with technological improvements and the huge amount
of investment around the world in new online developments, these numbers will
continue to increase rapidly. It's not a matter of whether we will go online,
but when.
The internet is changing the way we live our lives and bringing with it a set
of issues which communities and governments around the world must deal with.
Like other communities and governments around the world, the western Australian
government is committed to ensuring that the opportunities are shared equitably
and innovatively to deliver a range of things which are now possible and necessary.
Recently I outlined the government's vision for all western Australians to
join and benefit in the digital revolution by ensuring all western Australian
homes are on-line, regardless of their location or financial circumstances
It's a bold goal but I believe a necessary one.
And I don't know whether Tony Blair is a computer hacker but earlier he pledge
the same thing for Britain...using almost identical words... they say great
minds think alike!!!!
As a government we are well aware of our obligations. We need to play our
part in:
* Equitable access to enhanced telecommunications services;
* Growth of innovative information industries;
* Access to government services online;
* Progressive legislation, policy and strategies for e-commerce;
* Adoption of online technologies by business and community.
I'll expand on the role of government a bit later, but there is no doubt that
the information age brings with it the need for some new thinking - particularly
about the way communities are formed and work together.
Communications technologies are changing the way people communicate and share
information, ideas and memories.
Communities which once formed out of necessity are now formed out of shared
interest. We can belong to different communities - local physical communities
and, through information technology, be part of communities of interest with
people all over the state, the nation and the world.
What we are seeing is a progression..... A change in the way communities are
created.
In many parts of western Australia there are towns every 45 kilometres or so,
which is no coincidence. When the state was being developed years ago, the
railway was the "superhighway" of the century. It connected the people
of this huge state with fast and efficient communications.
The fact that the towns are 45 kilometres apart is because a steam train had
to have its boilers refilled every 45 kilometres or so. Naturally towns sprang
up to accommodate this and communities developed around the steam train stops.
The steam trains that travelled along the tracks carried people, goods and
news along their lengths.
Many of the towns and cities around the world, developed in this way. It could
have been as a result of the pony express or stagecoach stops, or even the
distance a runner could travel in a day.
Over the years the problems of distance have been overcome by the telephone
and faster transport.
But the Internet brings something as revolutionary as the train did all those
years ago. It brings the chance to create communities which are not bound by
shared location, but by shared interest.
Around the world a quiet revolution is happening using satellite and telephone
wires. People are sharing information, resources, ideas, political views, even
recipes and jokes - despite distance and not hindered by pre-conceptions which
go with age, race or gender.
Everyone can take part in a completely new medium.
Our traditional ways of making contact with other people and assessing people
as our friends, confidants or potential workers is changing. This can be very
challenging for people.
These issues need to be brought out into the open. They must be discussed so
we can at least recognise the impact they will have on the future of our society.
Will the Internet cause isolation? Will there be a generation of children who
don't know how to talk to each other without a keyboard?
The evidence to date suggests that young people - far from becoming isolated
- are establishing wonderful vibrant online communities which often turn into
face to face friendships.
No doubt there are challenges and problems to overcome....but the opportunities
are seemingly unlimited.
Done correctly, it promises to open up alternative employment opportunities,
global markets, educational innovation and international dialogue.
Earlier this year I spoke at a university summer school and my topic was "the
way forward". In that speech I talked of the fact that, not that long
ago, few could see or appreciate the huge technology revolution that was about
the occur.
I made the point - and it's extremely relevant here at CASOC 2000 - that despite
the fact that we couldn't predict the information revolution, our education
system is gearing us to be flexible, to think outside the square and be innovative
- something that western Australians are very good at.
We are embracing new technology.
But as I said earlier, we don't want the "digital divide", the technology "hive's
and the technology have nots". We must ensure that all age groups, all
geographic locations, all socio-economic levels have access to this technology.
It sounds nice...but what are we doing about it.
The first thing is well and truly in operation and that is to make sure our
schools are equipped with state of the art technology and the teachers are
trained in this technology. We are well into a $100 million commitment to information
technology in schools.
We have made a huge investment in our schools to have them wired, on line,
to significantly increase the ratios of computers to students.
But we also have to educate parents and other age groups on how to utilise
this technology
Already we have piloted the very successful "parents in schools computer
literacy project". This initiative uses children to educate parents who
have little or no computer literacy skills in basic literacy and awareness.
And we are not forgetting about older people.
We actually want to expand the education that is already taking place and
develop programs where local high schools adopt local retirement villages and
those students spend some time helping the elderly use this technology.
Some of the great success stories in I.T. are occurring when our senior citizens
get access.
It helps break down loneliness barriers. It allows them to do more of their
financial transactions from home.
We have already delivered a pilot program of seminars conducted here in Mandurah
and other regional centres that provided internet training/ computer training,
awareness of electronic banking and other technologies likely to impact on
the daily life of seniors.
As part of our WA communities on line initiative we are piloting the "peel
senior net initiative". This allows seniors' community groups in this
region to create, promote and maintain effective websites for the purpose of
developing on line communities.
We also have to ensure that homes and businesses can go on line, and one of
the issues here is making sure the private sector invests in the modern pipeline
- the cabling, fibre optics required to connect people to the net.
But having the `digital pipeline' in place isn't enough, we have to bring as
many government and private sector services on line as we can in a convenient
way for the householder and business.
To do this, we are looking at a number of initiatives.
The first one is within our government housing authority, homeswest, through
our "new living" strategy which revitalises old public housing areas.
We have asked homeswest, as they move in and implement the strategy, to see
if we can't include having these homes being put on line and have an arrangement
whereby both the hardware equipment and the tuition is available to the people
when they have come back into the homes.
Similarly, where we do new housing developments, we want to ensure that those
suburbs are on line.
In the Perth suburb of Ellenbrook , homeswest and the Sanwa property group
has received national acclaim.
The latest subdivision will be provided with a unique intranet site - a 21st
century version of the community notice board.
Schools will be able to send messages to parents.
Sporting and community clubs will be able to post notices and residents will
be able to advertise for things such as baby sitters through their homes.
And the developers will also be offering free Internet education sessions.
The new package available to each household will include:
. Cable modem
. Internet service provider package
. Development of work from home precincts within the home
. Permanent high speed connection to the internet
. And free education sessions.
We are looking at ways we can involve the private sector in our vision...we
are saying to them `this is what we want to achieve, how could you best develop
and provide cost effective services to all households'.
In this day and age we believe there will be some pretty interesting submissions.
Over the next few months you will see a number of initiatives being launched
which show our commitment to having Western Australia emerge as a leader in
the application of this technology.
These include:
. A variety of support strategies for small business to access e-commerce opportunities,
including a grant scheme and a training program.
. The extension of the on line WA communities project, which will see the creation
of more than 25 websites, focusing on communities from diverse areas such as
the Avon, Albany, Bunbury and the peel region.
. The extension of the telecentre network which is designed to cover our regional
areas for access to all the advantages of information technology that are available
in the metropolitan area.
I could go on, but just as the government assisted with the railways all those
decades ago - so it will work to ensure that Western Australians have access
to these new channels of communications.
It is an exciting time and CASOC 2000 is a wonderful opportunity to share and
debate ideas on the issues emerging from the new phenomenon that is the online
world. I congratulate the office of information and communications within the
department of commerce and trade and the peel development commission for organising
this significant event.
I sincerely hope everyone here takes home a great deal which is useful to
their communities, and that the Western Australians among us learn more about
how to make this great state even greater.
I welcome you all here to the beautiful Mandurah performing arts centre, and
am delighted to officially open the inaugural CASOC 2000 conference.
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