I announced on Monday in collaboration with Minister Conroy and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy that there will be several group contribution events happening in parallel with the upcoming Realising our Broadband Future Forum which is at the University of New South Wales in Sydney on December 10 and 11.
These events will create important additional opportunities for people to come together, discuss the issues of the forum, and to contribute to this very important public consultation. All input will play an important part, and I look forward to reporting to the Forum late in the schedule on their behalf with some of their ideas.
Group events are happening in Parramatta, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide, and there is a wonderful mix of business, academia, creative industries and government participating, so check them out at http://bbf.civictec.net/ and register for one near you. Otherwise you can simply contribute to the consultation online as an individual at http://broadbandfuture.gov.au/.
The first group consultation to be organised was Parramatta City, and this event will include a mixture of items in the Realising our Broadband including a future schedule, as well as local content and discussions. All outcomes arising from the event will be contributed to the main consultation online.
Paul Garrard, Lord Mayor of Parramatta City says “This national summit is a timely and significant opportunity for all communities and stakeholder groups to discuss the impact of digital technologies. Parramatta City Council is proud to be hosting a parallel 2 day open forum to enable as many people as possible to join in the discussion. I would urge my colleagues in Local Government across Australia to join with us in helping our communities explore and understand what improved broadband can mean for a better quality of life”.
Parramatta City are working closely with John Wells, co-founder of CivicTEC who stated “Parramatta City has been great in making it possible for all those who can’t attend the national Summit to have a place where they can come together, watch the keynote presentations and then be part of lively discussion which we’ll feed back into the official summit proceedings. It looks set to be a full and fun two days with lots of different ways people can express their view. The CivicTEC team has been assisting other community organisers to hold a local discussion through our support site at bbf.civictec.net”.
Minister Stephen Conroy said “I am very excited to see such interest in this forum, and I extend a warm invitation to anyone interested in taking part in these group consultations to register to participate. Realising Our Broadband Future is an important event as we explore Australia’s potential in the digital economy and I welcome input from people through these group consultations and online at www.broadbandfuture.gov.au“.
Please contact the group facilitator, Pia Waugh on pia.waugh@aph.gov.au if you would like further information.
