Yarn: Government’s 2026 Digital Inclusion Target Shows Up On Time, NBN In Remote Communities Still On Its Way

CANBERRA, ACT – The Australian Government has confirmed that 2026 has commenced on schedule, placing it in technical compliance with the start of the year identified in Closing the Gap Target 17, which states that by 2026, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will have equal levels of digital inclusion with all other Australians.

Officials noted that while the year 2026 had arrived more or less as expected, digital inclusion in remote First Nations communities remained a work in progress, with internet connectivity in many communities described as “aspirational” by people who do not live there.

The 2026 Implementation Plan commits the government to providing free Community Wi-Fi in up to 50 remote communities – a number that compares favourably to the approximately 1,000 remote Indigenous communities that exist across the country.

“We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved” said a spokesperson from the relevant department, gesturing at the calendar. “The target said 2026. We are in 2026. That is a form of progress.”

The government stressed that digital inclusion requires partnership and a community-led approach and that the communities leading the approach had mostly not yet been consulted on which 50 they were.

Of the 19 national Closing the Gap targets, five are currently on track to be met. The remaining 14 are being managed through a combination of Implementation Plans, Annual Reports, Implementation Plans about Annual Reports and press conferences held in locations with reliable Wi-Fi.

A departmental review of Target 17 is expected to be completed and shared digitally in due course.