The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, has launched the first Victorian NBN-enabled Digital Hub at the Brunswick Neighbourhood House.

Senator Conroy also announced that Moreland City Council has been successful in its application for Digital Local Government program funding.

The Australian Government’s Digital Hubs program uses community partnerships in National Broadband Network (NBN) connected communities to provide free online training to residents and the opportunity to experience NBN-enabled high-speed broadband services.

Senator Conroy says that the Brunswick Digital Hub and the Moreland Digital Local Government project will both focus on reaching out and making NBN services accessible to everyone in its diverse community.

“In Brunswick, over 40% of residents were born overseas and up to 23% are newly arrived in Australia. The need to provide accessible and quality digital literacy education to community members from diverse backgrounds means that the Brunswick Neighbourhood House is ideally placed to deliver the objectives of the Digital Hub program,” he says.

“By empowering people, increasing their digital literacy skills and opening up digital participation to all members of the community, the Brunswick Digital Hub is working to help ensure that the 26% of Australians who do not use the internet is a statistic that will be rapidly shrinking in the future.”

Brunswick Neighbourhood House general manager Mick Fitzgerald explains how the Brunswick Neighbourhood House is thrilled to be introducing local residents to the world of high-speed broadband.

“The NBN will play an ever increasing role in all aspects of our lives. Brunswick Neighbourhood House has been delivering community based education services for more than 30 years. We look forward to assisting the community to explore the many benefits and possibilities enabled by the NBN,” he says.

Digital Local Government program funding of $412 500 (including GST) will assist the Moreland City Council improve accessibility of its customer support services.

“Through this project, customer service staff at Moreland City Council will be able to use videoconferencing to explain council processes interactively, in particular to residents who speak English as a second language,” Senator Conroy says.