Digital Inclusion in WA Blueprint - Implementation Program

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Improve access to fixed and mobile broadband in regional and remote locations in WA

Beginning in 2021, $42.9 million was committed under State, Commonwealth, and industry programs to deliver new and improved connectivity at 55 locations across the Kimberley, Pilbara, Goldfields, Esperance and Mid-West regions between 2022 and 2024.

A further $29.8 million has been committed under State, Commonwealth, and industry programs for 27 mobile and community-scale projects to deliver new and improved connectivity in remote locations across the Kimberley, Pilbara and Goldfields-Esperance regions over the period 2024 to 2026.

Improve connectivity for regional farmers and businesses

Beginning in 2021, $51.6 million was committed under State, Commonwealth and industry programs to improve connectivity for farm businesses, transport corridors, campgrounds and popular tourist sites between 2022 and 2024.

A further $40.6 million has been committed under State, Commonwealth and industry programs to deliver new and improved connectivity for 14 projects across regional WA over the period 2024 to 2026.

Department of Education

Support digital access for students through WA schools

Effective bandwidth to WA public schools is driven by a strategy to build scalable digital capability. It has been evolving since 2001 with increasing importance on the availability and capacity of bandwidth to enable digital access for all students.

In January 2021, the Department entered a partnership with Telstra with the aim to increase bandwidth capacity by an average of 20 times for 97% of public schools.  This program was completed ahead of schedule and the upgrades exceeded expectations – in some cases resulting in up to a 150-fold increase in average per-user capacity. This has enabled digital access to a full range of online learning services and technologies, including high-definition multimedia content and cloud-based services.

In 2022, a project commenced to upgrade services to the remaining 3% of very remote school sites that are connected by satellite. By the end of 2023, all the sites had an increased effective bandwidth performance of 75%. Two of these school sites will be further upgraded from satellite services to hybrid fibre optic services in 2024.

All schools upgraded are benefitting from the program - the online service monitoring dashboard indicates that no schools are experiencing bandwidth ‘stress’ during the school day.

In July 2023, a new project commenced to plan further upgrades across more than 700 school sites which will provide, in most cases, doubling of bandwidth capacity. These upgrades are in progress and are expected to be completed by the end of 2024.  

Multiple Agencies

Repurpose technology from government agencies for digitally disadvantaged people in WA.

Government agencies continue to repurpose used technology from with charitable organisations that target digitally disadvantaged people throughout the community.

Department of Education

Improve digital skills and STEM training in WA schools

This initiative aims to upskill and support school leaders and teachers to implement sustainable teaching and learning practice in STEM. This initiative is aligned with the WA Government’s State STEM Strategy, the Department’s ICT Vision for Teaching and Learning in Public Schools and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Strategy.

Professional and Learning Resources

The Quality Teaching Strategy brings together programs, services and support for principals and teachers to build a culture of teaching excellence that develops, implements, and sustains effective classroom practice, including the delivery of STEM.

Four Digitech schools support schools to improve their teaching and learning of the Digital Technologies curriculum and implement a whole-school approach to the integration of technology.

Two-way Science

Two-way Science supports schools to build partnerships with local Aboriginal communities to develop culturally responsive learning programs that connect the Western Australian Curriculum: Science to Aboriginal knowledge. Two-way Science provides an opportunity for all students to learn about science from the world’s oldest continuing cultures.

The Two-way Science Initiative was acknowledged at the 2023 Institute of Public Administration Australia WA Achievement Awards by winning the category of Best Practice in Corporate Social Values.  

Digital Technologies Challenges Program

Supported by industry and funded by the Department of Education, the Digital Technologies Challenge Program enhances quality teaching, empowers educators, and prepares students for future careers in industry. Students develop important skills in automation and data science.

Department of Training and Workforce Development

Develop courses to support the development of digital skills through TAFE

This initiative provides digitally disadvantaged Western Australians access to affordable basic digital literacy skills training throughout the TAFE sector.

As of Semester 1 2024 both regional and metropolitan TAFE colleges are offering the fee-free AE820 Digital Literacy Skill Set course.

Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety

Continue existing cyber security and online scams awareness programs

This ongoing initiative delivers community education and an online resource with information about current scams. It provides advice to vulnerable members of the community who are victims of scams.

Lotterywest/WA Council of Social Services (WACOSS)

The WA Digital Inclusion Project

This three-year project, led by WACOSS and funded through a $3.9 million grant from Lotterywest, delivers seven initiatives to improve the ability, access and affordability of digital services to the WA community.

Department of the Premier and Cabinet (Office of Digital Government)

Provide a single point of access to WA Government information and services

In 2019 a project was created to migrate government agencies to WA.gov.au. As of May 2024, the Office of Digital Government hosts 102 websites on its platforms (WA.gov.au and a campaign hosting solution) from 32 different entities.

The Office of Digital Government has engaged the Centre for Accessibility to regularly audit and review its digital platforms including the ServiceWA app, the PeopleWA e-research platform and WA.gov.au to ensure best practice.

In June 2023 automatic opt-in translation became available on WA.gov.au. Text to speech functionality is now also available on selected WA.gov.au pages.

In recognition of these achievements, the West Australian Government was named as a finalist in the 2023 Australian Access Awards.

State Library of Western Australia

Providing access to a digital learning and heritage platform for Aboriginal people to explore their history.

This $196,500 funded initiative, Storylines, delivers a digital platform providing learning and access to heritage collections including photographs, oral histories, video recordings, and genealogical information to Aboriginal people. The platform is currently available online and will have ongoing input from communities to identify, collect and digitally return Aboriginal heritage collections to individuals, families and communities.

Digitisation of At-Risk Audio & Video Collections

The State Library of Western Australia is undertaking a large-scale digitisation of its fragile and inaccessible magnetic and other at-risk audio-visual collections, to ensure the long-term preservation of this significant archive and enable online public access.

The project will result in digitisation of WA’s most at-risk, significant and unique audio-visual collections; long-term preservation storage of the digitised material; and enhanced public access, including improved discovery and viewing features on the State Library’s website and online catalogue. Collections digitised in 2023 will begin to be publicly accessible in the first half of 2024.

Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries – Aboriginal History WA Unit

Providing access to a digital learning and heritage platform for Aboriginal people to explore their history

Launched in 2021, this initiative provides a publicly accessible online database of historical research projects and supports ancestral research, with additional information to be added over time to improve access to further WA Aboriginal historical information.

In 2023, the Aboriginal History WA unit completed and uploaded the following research projects to the database:

Residential town blocks: An index to residential town blocks purchased or leased by Aboriginal men and women between 1900 and 1960.

The Perth and Swan Orphanage and Mission index: A database containing the names and admission details of children who were placed in the Perth and then Swan institutions between 1871 and 1920.

WA Country Health Service

Improve access to public health services through the establishment of partnerships with Aboriginal Medical Services in regional locations in WA

This ongoing initiative establishes and progresses partnerships with Aboriginal Medical Services (AMS) in several regions that support regional patient access to public health services via telehealth in community. The WACHS Regional Telehealth Program provides telehealth appointment coordination and scheduling support to some AMS’s as well as training and advice on use of WA Health approved videoconferencing solutions.

Through collaboration with Aboriginal Medical Services in regional locations in WA the WACHS Command Centre is improving access to specialist Emergency Telehealth Services - inclusive for Mental Health, Midwifery and Palliative Care. Remote communities now accessing one or more of the specialist Emergency Telehealth Services includes the Kimberley (Bidyadanga), Pilbara (Jigalong, Kunawarritji, Punmu and Parnngurr) and Goldfields (Warburton).

WACHS are also collaborating with the University of Sydney under a Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre grant funded project titled “Economic Evaluation of Expansion of Command Centre Services into Aboriginal Medical Services in Western Australia”. The proposal outlines a partnership with (Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services) Bidyadanga and (Ngaanyatjarra Health Service) Warburton.

Improve access to virtual healthcare through engagement with Aboriginal Liaison Officers

Operating in several regions, this initiative engages WACHS employed Aboriginal Liaison Officers (ALOs) to support patients to access virtual healthcare appointments. ALOs provide patient coordination and support, inclusive locating and advising patient of telehealth appointments, and transporting patients to and from hospital site if required.

A Community based Digital Access priority initiative is now underway to improve equity of access for vulnerable remote Aboriginal patients, partnering with Aboriginal Liaison Officers and Aboriginal Health Workers testing telehealth options into community. The current focus is on Kimberley Aged Care remote outreach patients and West Pilbara community patients receiving virtual outpatient services.

Department of Health

Enable people to digitally track their WA Health public outpatient appointments and referrals at all Western Australian Health sites

The WA Health Manage My Care (MMC) app and web portal allow patients and carers to track their public outpatient appointments and referrals at all WA health sites delivering outpatient services. The MMC app provides users with real-time visibility of their upcoming outpatient appointments, and digital notifications when appointments are booked or changed. The MMC app was launched in 2020 and as at January 2024, has over 100,000 active users.

Investigations into patient facing App solutions with additional functionality commenced last year and preliminary requirements have been collated. In addition, an enabling project has been identified that will allow consumers to check into outpatient appointments digitally, see their position in the queue and support room and resource scheduling at hospital sites. Funding to progress these initiatives has been requested and is pending decision.

Digitise the design of outpatient referrals management for referrers external to WA Health

Work is underway to finalise the procurement process for an end-to-end enhanced electronic referral management solution (Smart Referrals WA). Solution design is planned to commence over the coming months, following contract award to the preferred vendor.