Brisbane’s digital literacy push carries promise, but risks and ethical pitfalls remain

The Queensland government this month extended its Digital Skills for Every Queenslander program, offering free online courses in basic coding, privacy protection and online banking to residents of Brisbane and beyond. But as the initiative reaches an estimated 40,000 enrollees across the state, educators and advocates say the rush to get people online is raising hard questions about who gets left behind-and at what ethical cost.

The program, launched in early 2025, targets adults with no or low digital literacy-a group that in Brisbane alone likely numbers in the tens of thousands. The need is clear: job applications, Centrelink claims, even rental bids increasingly require digital competence. Yet the very tools promising inclusion can also amplify exclusion. Recent reporting on smart glasses that lack cameras-such as Even Realities’ productivity-focused frames-highlights a broader tension: technology designed to help can also track, profile or mislead users who lack the skills to scrutinise it.

Ethical fault lines in the classroom

At the State Library of Queensland in South Brisbane, instructors in the program teach participants how to spot phishing emails and secure their passwords. But one former tutor, who asked not to be named because she still works with the government, told The Daily Brisbane that the curriculum skips deeper issues. “We teach people to use a chatbot to fill in a form, but we don’t explain how that chatbot uses their data or why it might reject their application,” she said. “Digital literacy without ethics is just training for surveillance.”

The concern echoes wider debates in the tech sector. Reed Jobs, son of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and founder of the Emerson Collective-affiliated healthcare startup, has said he would rather focus on curing cancer than his family name. His remark underscores a cultural shift away from blind optimism about technology. In Brisbane, advocates argue digital literacy programs must include critical thinking about algorithms, platform design and consent-not just how to click a button.

Data divides and hidden costs

The program is free to participants, but the underlying infrastructure is not. Brisbane’s digital divide isn’t just about skills-it’s about access to reliable internet and devices. In suburbs such as Inala and Acacia Ridge, where household income is below the city median, slow speeds and older phones can render online courses frustrating or impossible. Meanwhile, a slushie machine deployed in New York City’s heat wave this week was hailed as a lifesaver; it’s a reminder that hardware matters as much as software for quality of life. Here, the missing hardware is a decent broadband connection.

“We saw during COVID that kids in public housing couldn’t log into school,” said a community worker at the Inala Wangarra Centre, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to talk to media. “Now the same families are being told to do five hours of online training. The promise is real. But if you don’t have a laptop, or you’re sharing your mobile data with three kids, that promise turns into a wall.”

There is no government-run device subsidy attached to the Digital Skills program, leaving local charities and libraries to fill the gap. The Brisbane City Council’s Digital Brisbane initiative provides public Wi-Fi hotspots in 10 city parks, but coverage can be patchy.

What happens next

The Queensland government has said it will evaluate the program’s outcomes by December 2026, including whether graduates find employment or improved access to services. In the meantime, educators are calling for a revised curriculum that includes algorithm awareness and data rights. Practical advice emerging from community workshops includes: never share your full birthdate on a public form; use a password manager (many are free); and ask any chatbot or app three questions before trusting it-where does my data go, how long is it kept, and can I delete it. The digital future is coming to Brisbane. The question is whether the city’s literacy programs will teach people not just to use it, but to see through it.