Push for cheaper online access

A CAMPAIGN to halve the price of high-speed broadband services for jobseekers, pensioners and the working poor will begin today after research showed National Broadband Network services may be too expensive for more than a million Australian households.

The “No Australian Left Offline” push, backed by eight community groups, will seek cut-price broadband for most Australians receiving government benefits in a move they say could save the economy “approximately $20 billion”.

But advocates admit getting political parties to commit to subsidising broadband months before a federal election could be a tough sell.

Australian Communications Consumer Action Network chief executive Teresa Corbin said the idea for the campaign came after Bureau of Communications and Arts Research statistics showed the poorest families were spending 10 per cent of their income on telecommunications — almost three times as much as the rest of the population.

Ms Corbin said many poorer households were instead using limited mobile internet plans to go online and paying a “poverty premium”.

“We can’t let the gaps get bigger and bigger,” she said.

The campaign calls for a federal subsidy for $30 monthly broadband plans at speeds of 50 megabits per second and with unlimited downloads.