Lofty goals dominate digital talks
Communications Minister Clare Curran says the Government wants to reduce digital divides and will make enhancing people’s digital rights a priority.
Speaking at the Digital Nations conference in Auckland yesterday, Curran put increasing ‘‘social inclusion and cohesion’’ at the heart of its technology policy agenda.
The conference kicked off without an expected ‘‘big reveal’’ on the appointment of a national chief technology officer, after the Government decided last week to delay an appointment and widen its search for a ‘‘suitable candidate’’.
Curran said the Government wanted to build a stronger people-centred democracy and that developing a framework around digital rights was a priority. She also said that people wanted protection from mass surveillance.
In an apparent dig at the former government’s focus on its $2 billion investment in the ultra-fast and rural broadband initiatives, Curran said ‘‘success isn’t about building an infrastructure and hoping for the best’’.
‘‘There are different schools of thought about what makes a thriving digital nation. For us is it about making sure all our people are thriving in a digital world and taking all Kiwis on the journey.’’
Curran said about 160,000 children were growing up in families that did not have internet access at home.
Most at risk of ending up on the wrong side of digital divides were families with children, low socioeconomic groups, new migrants and refugees, rural people, Maori and Pacific Islanders, offenders and ex-offenders, and senior citizens, she said.
Internal Affairs chief executive Colin Macdonald – who is also government chief digital officer – said OECD research showed trust in governments was declining but that people trusted the services they delivered.
He said the research raised the question of ‘‘why we are not using digital technology to change our notion of representative democracy’’.
The opportunity was to improve the way the Government interacted with people, ‘‘listens to their issues and then mobilises around them for the benefit of citizens’’, he said.
But people were ‘‘increasingly feeling more disconnected from the process of government and less able to influence’’ it at a time when they feel should feel more influence, he said.
The Digital Nations conference was timed to precede a closed meeting of ministers from ‘‘D5’’ nations New Zealand, Britain, Estonia, Israel and South Korea in Wellington on Thursday, which will be chaired by Curran.
Graeme Muller, who is the chief executive of industry body NZTech, said the conference was a chance for people to envisage what New Zealand could look like as a digital nation by 2030 ‘‘and agree on investments and policy to help us get there’’.