This paper discusses the potentially looming 'digital participation gap' in Australia, if concerted efforts are not commenced soon to make certain that poor, remote and vulnerable communities in Australia are not actively included in the fast internet roll-out.

The Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) is the largest infrastructure project ever proposed in Australia (NBN, 2010). Its Fibre to the Home open access network will see a new generation of telecommunications services providing the basis for technologies and services to be combined. Homes connected to the network will have access to new digital media...

As regulators examine the impact of the internet on Australian society and consider the most appropriate response, the issues are often complex and the right policy responses difficult to identify.

This paper is based on the observation that mobile phone technology will become the preferred platform for enabling an aging population to live independently for longer in their own home. The paper draws upon research into the understanding of the diverse attitudes and backgrounds of older people that informs prediction of adoption of these technologies.

This paper filters recent developments in digital radio policy and implementation through the perspectives of community radio stakeholders, obtained through interviews, to describe and analyse these constraints.