Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 24—Communications and information technology 843
24.15 HOUSEHOLD COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCESS, By Household Type(a) and Income(a)
Computer access
Internet access
May 1998 May 1999 May 2000 May 1998 May 1999 May 2000
Household type
%
%
%
%
%
%
Households
With children under 18 61 66 75 19 30 46
Without children under 18 31 36 42 11 17 25
Household income
Under $50,000 27 30 37 6 10 18
$50,000 or more 68 70 75 28 39 51
(a) Proportions are of all households in each category.
Source: Use of the Internet by Householders, Australia, May 2000 (8147.0).
Characteristics of adult Internet users
An estimated 6.4 million adults in Australia
(46% of all adults) accessed the Internet from any
site (home, work or other site) at some time over
the 12 months to May 2000 (table 24.16). The
comparable figure for the 12 months to May 1999
was 5.5 million adults (41% of adults). In the
12 months to May 2000:
77% of 18–24 year olds accessed the Internet
from any site, compared to 60% of 25–39 year
olds, 45% of 40–54 year olds and 16% of adults
aged 55 years and over;
51% of adult males and 41% of adult females
accessed the Internet from any site;
59% of employed adults accessed the Internet
from any site, compared to 23% of adults who
were not employed; and
49% of adults in capital cities accessed the
Internet from any site, compared to 40% of
adults who resided in other areas.
Internet purchasing
About 6% of Australian adults (802,000) used the
Internet to purchase or order goods or services
for their own private use in the 12 months to May
2000. By comparison, in the 12 months to May
1999 an estimated 5% of Australian adults
(650,000) purchased or ordered goods or services
via the Internet.
In the 12 months to May 2000, adults made
Internet purchases/orders for the following main
items:
books or magazines (by 36% of adult Internet
shoppers);
computer software (by 18%);
music (by 18%);
computer hardware (by 14%); and
food and groceries (by 13%).
During this period, 81% of adult Internet
shoppers paid for all or part of their
purchases/orders on-line. The total amount of the
purchases/orders made by each adult was $500 or
less in over 70% of cases. Of adults making
purchases/orders:
35% spent up to $100;
36% spent between $101 and $500;
17% spent between $501 and $1,000; and
11% spent more than $1,000.
Adults working from home
At May 2000, about 6% of employed adults
reported that they had an agreement with their
employer to work from home on an ongoing
basis. To enable them to work from home, over a
third (38%) of these adults had use of a portable
PC. Almost a third (32%) of adults working from
home were able to access their employer’s
computer system from home via a modem, with a
similar proportion (31%) using floppy disks or
CDs containing work-related information.
Adults making selected electronic
transactions
In the 12 months to May 2000, only 8% of adults
used the Internet to access government services.
In the three months to May 2000, the same
proportion (8% of adults) used the Internet to
pay bills or transfer funds. In contrast, in the
three months to May 2000, a little over half of all
adults (51%) used the telephone to pay bills or
transfer funds, two-thirds (67%) used EFTPOS
and nearly three-quarters (74%) used ATMs.