Queensland to Fund Starlink Service for Remote Indigenous Communities

Remote Indigenous communities are being socially and economically disadvantaged by having limited access to digital connectivity, the government says.

Local children play stick ball on a street in Aurukun, far North Queensland, Cape York, on July 19, 2022. AAP Image/Jono Searle

The Queensland government has committed to the funding of a Starlink satellite program to address what it calls the “digital exclusion” of remote Indigenous communities.

Seventeen Indigenous councils in isolated areas will receive $45,000 (US$30,000), out of a $1.25 million commitment, to fund the Rapid Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Deployment Program which provides satellite equipment, installation and ultimately better broadband connectivity to First Nations people.