The Australian Information Industry Association has praised South Australia’s Strategic Plan, describing it as a new benchmark for Australian states and Territories seeking to establish leading economies based on the intelligent application of technology.

 

South Australia’s Strategic Plan will now include a target of increasing the state’s businesses that receive orders from 24 per cent to 40 per cent in 2014, with a commitment to continued increases up to 2020. 

 

The inclusion of the e-commerce target in South Australia's State Plan follows the Federal Government's recently announced goal of placing Australia in the top 5 OECD countries in the world by the percentage of businesses online.

 

"It is a very smart move for South Australia to get ahead of the curve. States that lead take-up will have a leading share of the rewards,” said AIIA CEO Suzanne Campbell

 

Past studies by IBM have estimated that up to 92 percent of Australian consumers want to use websites to compare prices. PayPal estimates that Australian online retail spending will rise from $24 billion in 2009 to $33 billion in 2012; yet, 40 percent of spending goes overseas compared to only 10 percent in the United States.

 

AIIA also called on government to take similar measures to ensure citizen and consumer confidence online, and to lead by example through internet-based initiatives ranging from service delivery to citizen consultation.