[LINK] 'Snail mail' could go online

[Antony Barry]

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/-1iy8k.html

'Snail mail' could go online
CLANCY YEATES

THE Coalition would seek to offer every Australian a digital ''pigeon hole'' for their communication with government if it won the next election, in an attempt to slash Canberra's spending on ''snail mail''.

The opposition communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, yesterday revived a plan to give people an online account that would receive correspondence from government.

In a speech seeking to expand the digital debate beyond physical infrastructure, Mr Turnbull, pictured, said the move could save billions of dollars.

The ''lifetime pigeon hole'' would function like an email address, receiving all notices from government and other institutions.

''Over time I think most people would find that preferable and much more convenient,'' Mr Turnbull told a Canberra conference on digital inclusion.

A study in Britain found the government saved between $5.16 and $18.70 for each instance where engagement with citizens switched to the web. Mr Turnbull first floated this idea as a backbencher in 2005, but the Coalition is keen to expand the digital debate beyond physical infrastructure.

''We are spending too much time talking about the … hard infrastructure and far [too] little time talking about the technological imagination,'' he said.

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, said a government plan to provide ''digital hubs'' would include training on accessing government services online.

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