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The federal government has laid out a new framework for building digital commerce as part of Australia’s vision to become a top 10 digital economy by 2030. Dan Tehan, the launch of the new framework is driven by predictions that digital trade will grow to AU$192 billion by the end of the decade.
Labeled as a digital trade strategy by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the framework is few in terms of actionable details but offers three ambitious goals.
The first of these goals is to advocate for the liberalization of digital trade, standards and regulatory cooperation with international partners and through participation in international forums. The other two are negotiating digital trade rules that liberalize and facilitate trade and support the international implementation of digital trade rules.
While the federal government has made it a priority to support digital trade liberalization, companies like Meta have speak publicly Recent policy moves by the government have run counter to those aspirations.
Last week, Meta criticized the government proposed online defamation law as the tech giant believes it conflicts with the country’s free trade agreements with other countries.
The Anti-Defamation Act, framed as legislation to stop trolls, seeks to require social media service providers to set up Australian nominated organizations that can access user data for those user posted potentially defamatory material while in Australia.
According to the federal government, implementation of these laws is allowed under an exception under a World Trade Organization agreement.
“We believe that relying on technical exceptions to justify the view that the law is in compliance with the Free Trade Agreement would be seen as hypocritical by other countries in the region,” Meta said.
“These requirements will set a related precedent that could undermine the principles of an open internet.”
New digital commerce strategy will go with the federal government’s A$1 billion Digital Economy Strategyis expected to receive another A$130 million over four years if the Coalition wins the upcoming federal election, Tehan said.
The digital trade strategy comes with the upcoming federal elections in May, with elections for both houses to be held on May 21 at the latest.
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