Internet in Australia

Australia's first permanent Internet connection was established on 23 June 1989, when a TCP/IP link connected the University of Melbourne with the University of Hawaii. The connection provided the international feed for AARNet, Australia's academic and research network, which was established that year by Australian universities and research institutions. Pegasus Networks' foundation chief executive, Ian Peter, said that the company began offering public dial-up Internet access in June 1989, initially locally and nationwide from 14 September 1989.

The Australian Government established NBN Co in 2009 to build and operate the National Broadband Network (NBN), a national wholesale-only, open-access broadband network. The original design relied primarily on fibre to the premises (FTTP), supplemented by fixed wireless and satellite services. Following the change of government in 2013, the rollout shifted to a Multi-Technology Mix using existing and new network infrastructure. Its fixed-line technologies comprise FTTP, fibre to the building (FTTB), hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), fibre to the curb (FTTC) and fibre to the node (FTTN); fixed wireless and Sky Muster satellite services are used mainly in regional and remote areas.

As of May 2026, 12.67 million Australian homes and businesses were able to connect to the NBN and 8.66 million were connected through a retail provider. Some 5.09 million premises served by FTTN or FTTC could upgrade, or had upgraded, to FTTP, while 89 per cent of premises in the fixed-line footprint could access the network's highest residential wholesale speed tiers through FTTP or HFC. NBN Co aims to provide FTTP upgrade paths to more than 95 per cent of the approximately 622,000 premises that remained on FTTN connections at the end of 2025, with upgrades continuing progressively to 2030.

History

Early days

Australia was recognised as part of the Internet when the .au domain (ccTLD) was delegated to Robert Elz of the Australian Computing Science Network (ACSNet) in March 1986. From then on various universities connected intermittently (mostly via dialup UUCP links) to allow for the sending and receiving of email links and for use by emerging newsgroup facilities. Prior to IP-based connection to the greater Internet, there existed a message-based network, linking academic institutions within Australia, known as ACSNet, using the .oz domain and connected to international networks using other technologies. When Australia was fully integrated into the Internet, this domain was moved under .au to become .oz.au and still exists today.

The first permanent circuit connecting AARNet to ARPANet using TCP/IP over X.25 was established in May 1989. It linked the University of Melbourne with the University of Hawaii via a 2400 bit/s (bits per second) satellite connection. It was later upgraded to 56 kbit/s (kilobits per second), and then 256 kbit/s, at a time during which the US end-point was moved to San Jose at a NASA facility.

In 1992 there were two commercial ISPs competing with one another. DIALix provided services to Perth, and the other was Pegasus Networks in Byron Bay. In late 1994 the Telstra team led by Max Bosotti commenced negotiations to acquire all the assets of AARNet and establish a fully fledged commercial operation. Under AARNet the internet link to the node in Los Angeles consisted of a 1.5 Mbit/s link, accommodating all the dial-up services for Australia. After extensive negotiations with the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) Telstra Internet commenced operation out of Canberra on 1 July 1995. Prior to this operation the tariffs charged by the then small internet providers was based on time used on the service. Telstra Internet developed a world first tariff in charging by megabits downloaded, soon acclaimed by the rest of the world which followed suit. Some three months after Telstra Internet became operational a new link to the USA was purchased bringing the capacity to 45 Mbit/s and followed three months later by an additional 45 Mbit/s link such was the growth of the internet in 1995/96.

A further early provider was the not-for-profit Australian Public Access Network Association (APANA). Founded in 1992 by Mark Gregson, APANA ran many small, widely dispersed gratis hosts for bulletin board systems and newsgroups, but developed into a provider of low-cost, non-commercial access to the Internet for its members.

First broadband

In the mid-late 1990s, Telstra and Optus rolled-out separate cable Internet services, focusing on the east coast. The first broadband service over HFC was around 1995 using the Motorola proprietary protocols. In around 2000 DOCSIS was rolled out then in around 2008 the HFC was upgraded to support 30 Mbit/s. In 2000, the first consumer ADSL services were made available via Telstra Bigpond, at speeds of 256/64 kbit/s (downstream/upstream), 512/128 kbit/s, and 1500/256 kbit/s. Telstra chose to artificially limit all ADSL speeds to a maximum of 1500/256 kbit/s. As ADSL required access to the telephone exchange and the copper line – which only Telstra had – this allowed Telstra to be dominant due to the expense of roll-out for other companies and Telstra's established customer base. Other ISPs followed suit soon after; offering a Telstra Wholesale–based service.

Some pair-gain systems used on Telstra's copper network were incompatible with ADSL and could also restrict dial-up speeds.

Internet Peering

In 1995, the Western Australian Internet Association (WAIA) was formed (now known as the Internet Association of Australia), and in 1997 it launched one of the first peering points in the country with the Western Australian Internet Exchange service.

Competition, faster broadband

Gradually, larger ISPs began taking over more of the delivery infrastructure themselves by taking advantage of regulated access to the unconditioned local loop. As well as significantly reducing costs, it gave the service providers complete control of their own service networks, other than the copper pair (phone line from the exchange to the customer). The first competition to Telstra's DSLAMs was provided by then Optus subsidiary XYZed, launching business-grade xDSL services from 50 exchanges in September 2000. Competition in the residential infrastructure market began in 2003, when Adelaide-based ISP Internode installed a DSLAM in the town of Meningie, South Australia. Several other service providers have since begun deploying their own DSLAMs. The presence of non-Telstra DSLAMs allowed the service providers to control the speed of connection, and most offered "uncapped" speeds, allowing the customers to connect at whatever speed their copper pair would allow, up to 8 Mbit/s. Ratification of ADSL2 and ADSL2+ increased the maximum to 12 Mbit/s, then 24 Mbit/s.

In 2005, Telstra announced it would invest A$210 million in upgrading all of its ADSL exchanges to support ADSL2+ by mid-2006, though they did not say whether they would continue to restrict access speeds. However, in 2006, they announced new intentions to substantially alter their copper phone network and set up a Fibre to the Node (FTTN) network. This was later scrapped, with Telstra citing regulations forcing it to provide cheap wholesale access to its competitors as the reason not to invest in upgrading their network.

In late 2006, Telstra uncapped its retail and wholesale ADSL offerings to the maximum attainable speed of ADSL to 8 Mbit/s, however with a limited 384 kbit/s upstream speed. This has allowed many Australians access to higher speed broadband, while the comparatively lower wholesale rates discouraged competitive infrastructure investment in most cases.

By the late 2000s, point-to-point fixed wireless providers served broadband-poor regional and rural areas, predominantly using Motorola Canopy and WiMAX technologies. Telstra's 2006 introduction of the Next G HSPA network, reported to cover 99% of the Australian population by September 2008 with advertised speeds of up to 14 Mbit/s, stimulated investment in wireless broadband by Optus, Vodafone and Hutchison Telecommunications, which were expanding their HSPA networks to cover 96–98% of the population.

Traffic management and network neutrality

In 2006, the three largest ISPs stated that they did not discriminate between peer-to-peer internet activity and other internet activity. Peer-to-peer traffic counted towards a customer's monthly limit, and accounts exceeding that limit were shaped. Unwired and iBurst confirmed at the same time that they shaped peer-to-peer activity to "smooth the flow of data". In 2007, Optus changed its policy so that uploads as well as downloads counted towards a customer's limit, seen as a move to curb peer-to-peer activity, since other upload-heavy services such as multiplayer computer games were not counted when played through certain servers.

Delivering broadband to rural areas

Delivering competitive telecommunications services to regional and rural areas is a major issue, with Telstra often providing the only telecommunications backhaul transmission infrastructure. The large distance and small population means that providers interested in serving these areas often must invest large amounts of capital with low returns. Agile Communications is a pioneer of deploying cost-effective, competitive backhaul networks including their own microwave network in rural South Australia. Internode has been active in increasing access in order to be accessible to more people, spending $3.5 million. This expansion will include both "wireless and fixed line-broadband (ADSL 2+)".

In June 2006, the Australian Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) under the then coalition government called for expressions of interest for discussion of how to invest up to $878 million in funding under Broadband Connect program to provide greater access to broadband services in rural and regional areas at prices comparable to services available in metropolitan areas, $500 million of which was envisaged as being available to infrastructure projects. On 21 September 2006, the government announced they would invest up to $600 million in broadband infrastructure projects in rural, regional and remote Australia under this program. Applications for funding were open until 30 November. On 18 June 2007, in the lead up to a federal election, OPEL Networks was announced as the sole successful bidder, receiving the entire $600 million in funding under the program, as well as an additional allocation of $358 million. This was to be combined with $917 million to be invested by the OPEL Networks joint venture. The awarding of additional funding was met with some debate. The funding agreement was signed on 9 September 2007, which was dependent upon further planning by OPEL and confirmation that it would reach the agreed levels of coverage. The then federal opposition communications spokesman stated that they would honour the agreement, a stance maintained after winning government two months later, despite their own competing National Broadband Network proposal.

We have said all along, will honour existing contracts. There are a number of performance hurdles the OPEL contracts have to meet. That's all part of the contract.

— Stephen Conroy, Minister for Communications, Lateline Business, 2007-12-05

On 2 April 2008, it was announced that the funding agreement for Opel Networks had been cancelled. The minister cited OPEL's failure to meet the terms of the contract, a claim refuted by the OPEL joint venture partners, who nevertheless stated that the project would not proceed.

Innovation in broadband delivery

In November 2007 the first Naked DSL product was announced by iiNet. Shortly after this other internet providers also started to provide DSL products without telephony service over copper, reducing line rental fees.

2003: Broadband Advisory Group

In a report released on 22 January 2003 the government of prime minister John Howard's Broadband Advisory Group (BAG) recommended the Federal Government work with other governments and industry stakeholders to form a 'national broadband network'. A subsequent Senate committee recommend the federal government replace the 'increasingly obsolete' copper network with a new network based on fibre to the node (FTTN) or alternative technologies.

Telstra Copper Upgrade proposal 2005

On 15 November 2005 Telstra, the owner of the national copper network, announced a plan to upgrade its ageing networks, including a rollout of a fibre to the node (FTTN) network. At the time, the Federal Government was the majority shareholder of Telstra, but the plan did not involve any additional government investment. The rollout was later put on hold after the Howard government refused to exempt the new network from laws requiring third party access, instead saying Telstra could achieve the exemption by applying to the competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Telstra dropped plans for the new network on 7 August 2006, after reaching an impasse in negotiations with the ACCC. Former ACCC chairman, Graeme Samuel later said the proposal was 'an illusion on cost and on the capacity to truly deliver high-speed broadband to end users'.

Broadband Connect Policy and OPEL Networks 2006/07

In June 2006 the Broadband Connect policy was announced by the Howard government with an aim of providing greater access to broadband services in rural and regional areas.

OPEL Networks—a 50–50 joint venture between Optus and Elders—was announced on 18 June 2007 as the sole successful bidder in tender.

However, on 2 April 2008 communications minister Stephen Conroy of the then recently elected government of prime minister Kevin Rudd, terminated the agreement because OPEL had 'failed to meet the terms of [the] contract'.

G9 Consortium 2007

Nine telecommunications companies—AAPT, Internode, iiNet, Macquarie Telecom, Optus, PowerTel, Primus, Soul and TransACT, formerly known as G9—proposed its own FTTN network on 20 April 2007, however, it was rejected by the ACCC on 17 December 2007 because of future unknown conditions for access.

Internet statistics

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reports the number of telecommunications services in operation (SIOs), rather than unique subscribers, households or people. A person or household may have multiple fixed, mobile and data-only services; the categories below therefore cannot be added together to estimate the number of Australians using the internet.

At 30 June 2025, the principal reported service categories were:

Service category	Services in operation	Reporting basis
NBN fixed-line and fixed wireless	8,726,000	Wholesale consumer services; excludes NBN satellite
Mobile telephone services	30,392,000	Pre-paid and post-paid; retail and wholesale
Mobile broadband	4,051,000	Data-only mobile services; retail and wholesale
Home wireless broadband	654,000	4G or 5G home broadband; retail and wholesale
Non-NBN satellite	389,000	Retail services
Non-NBN fibre	256,000	Retail services
DSL	89,000	Retail services
Non-NBN HFC/cable	28,000	Retail services
Other non-NBN fixed wireless	3,000	Retail services

Estimated share of wholesale consumer NBN services by retailer, June 2025.

1. Telstra (34.0%)
2. TPG Telecom (18.0%)
3. Optus (12.0%)
4. Aussie Broadband (8.00%)
5. Vocus (5.00%)
6. Superloop (5.00%)
7. Other retailers (18.0%)

Wholesale consumer NBN fixed-line and fixed-wireless services increased by 0.13% during 2024–25, indicating that the total number of active NBN services had largely stabilised. The ACCC estimated that Telstra supplied 34% of consumer NBN services in June 2025, followed by TPG Telecom with 18% and Optus with 12%, while Aussie Broadband, Vocus and Superloop together accounted for approximately 18%. The share of NBN fixed-line services on wholesale speed tiers of 250 Mbit/s or faster increased from 2.7% in June 2023 to 8.2% in June 2025, although the 50 Mbit/s tier remained the most widely used.

Outside the NBN, home wireless broadband grew by 18% in the year to June 2025, reaching 654,000 services. Home wireless broadband uses a mobile network and is distinct from Wi-Fi connected to a fixed-line service. In the satellite market, Starlink reported 375,000 Australian retail services in June 2025, compared with 250,000 publicly reported in July 2024. It accounted for 27% of the non-NBN retail broadband services captured by the ACCC. Over the same period, legacy DSL services declined to 89,000.

For the three months ending 30 June 2025, service providers reported the following download volumes. The ACCC describes these volumes as indicative and notes that figures may be revised when providers amend their returns.

Access category	Data downloaded
NBN broadband	11,575,155 TB
Mobile telephone services (pre-paid)	331,193 TB
Mobile telephone services (post-paid)	989,948 TB
Non-NBN retail broadband	1,113,904 TB
Home wireless broadband	744,826 TB
Mobile broadband	134,771 TB

Of the 7.299 million retail NBN services covered by the Internet Activity reporting rule, 6.894 million, or approximately 94.5%, were on plans without a data limit in June 2025.

Social trends

Internet use is nearly universal among Australian adults, although the devices and services used to access it have changed. In a weighted survey of 3,543 adults conducted in 2025, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) estimated that 99.7% had used a device to access the internet during the preceding six months.

ACMA's survey series shows increased reliance on mobile phones and internet-connected televisions between 2017 and 2025. The average number of devices used to access the internet increased from 3.0 to 4.1. Respondents could report more than one device.

Devices used to access the internet

Device	2017 (%)	2025 (%)
Mobile phone	75.2	97.1
Laptop computer	61.3	72.7
Smart television	31.2	64.3
Tablet	44.3	52.8
Desktop computer	48.4	40.7
Share of surveyed adults using each device; respondents could select more than one.

During 2025, 93.6% of adults surveyed accessed news or information online, 86.9% bought goods or services online, 75.2% accessed government services through an application, 57.8% used video calling or conferencing, 42.0% used telehealth and 41.9% worked online from home.

Near-universal recent internet use does not necessarily mean that users have affordable connections, suitable devices or the skills needed to participate fully online. The 2025 Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII), based primarily on data collected in 2024, measures digital inclusion across access, affordability and digital ability. It gave Australia an overall score of 73.6 and classified 20.6% of Australians as digitally excluded or highly excluded, including 9.2% classified as highly excluded. It also found that 9.7% relied solely on a mobile connection, 1.8% had no connection and 19.4% compromised on connection speed or data allowance to make their internet service affordable.

Digital exclusion by population group

Population group	Excluded or highly excluded (%)
People aged 75 or older	66.5
Lowest-income households	63.0
Did not complete secondary school	54.5
Public-housing residents	45.2
First Nations people	40.9
Australia overall	20.6
Population classified as digitally excluded or highly excluded in the 2025 ADII.

The ADII also found a 5.9-point digital-inclusion gap between capital cities and the rest of Australia. Scores ranged from 79.5 in the Australian Capital Territory to 69.4 in Tasmania, and generally declined with increasing remoteness.

Pricing

The ACCC monitors advertised retail prices for telecommunications services annually. Comparing June 2025 advertised prices with June 2024, monthly prices for NBN fixed-line broadband services increased across most plans in nominal terms, excluding discounts: low-range plans (25th percentile) rose 7 per cent, or $5, to $78 per month; the median plan rose 9 per cent, or $8, to $93 per month; and high-range plans (75th percentile) were unchanged at $105 per month. Changes to NBN Co's wholesale pricing brought higher speed tiers to lower price points while lower speed tiers rose, concentrating the majority of plans between $90 and $100 per month.

NBN Co increased its average wholesale pricing by 4.08 per cent for 2024–25, and its residential average revenue per user rose from $47 per month in June 2024 to $50 per month in June 2025, reflecting a shift in the mix of services sold towards higher speed tiers.

Median advertised prices for mobile phone services rose 6.4 per cent, or $2.40 per month, between 2023–24 and 2024–25. Across the mobile network operators' flagship brands the median rose 7.3 per cent from $55 to $59 per month, while their sub-brands rose 16.7 per cent from $30 to $35 per month and mobile virtual network operator plans rose 2.9 per cent, or $1 per month.

Australian plans were historically characterised by data caps and excess usage charges. In October 2008, the OECD compared countries where more than 50% of offers had bitrate or data caps. Australia was one of four countries of the 13 with caps where 100% of plan options had download caps, and it ranked fourth in average download limit size (27 GB). It ranked number one by a wide margin in the average price per additional MB after reaching the cap, at US$0.103; the second highest was Ireland at US$0.018 per MB. In a sample comparison of 27 countries between 2005 and 2008 inclusive, the fastest DSL service was in Japan and Korea at 102,400 kbit/s, while Australia ranked fourth from the bottom at 1,536 kbit/s. Cable internet in Australia ranked third in greatest increase in speed, from 2,880 kbit/s in 2005 to 20,000 kbit/s in 2008. While all but two countries lowered their prices by an estimated average of 10% per year over that period, Australia raised its prices by an average of 14% per year.

Economic

Because internet-dependent production occurs across many industries, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) measures it using an experimental, economy-wide definition of "digital activity". This includes digital-enabling infrastructure, digital media and electronic commerce. In 2020–21, the ABS estimated that digital activity contributed $118.0 billion, or 6.1% of aggregate value added in Australia. Digital activity increased by 7.8% during the year, compared with growth of 4.8% across the economy as a whole. The ABS described the estimate as a lower bound because some digitally enabled products, peer-to-peer transactions and international digital trade could not be separately identified in the available data.

A more recent but narrower measure is the information media and telecommunications industry. Its industry value added was $54.2 billion in 2024–25, an increase of 8.2% from the previous financial year. The industry employed approximately 185,000 people at the end of June 2025, a decrease of 1.5%. These figures are not directly comparable with the broader digital-activity estimate, which also includes digital production and commerce occurring in other industries.

Internet connectivity is widely used throughout Australian business. In 2024–25, more than 91% of businesses reported that their internet connection met most or all of their needs, while 32% received orders over the internet. The proportion of businesses reporting the use of artificial intelligence increased from 1% in 2021–22 to 12% in 2024–25.

Digital technologies also accounted for a substantial proportion of business research and development. Australian businesses spent $24.41 billion on research and experimental development in 2023–24, of which $10.23 billion, or 42%, was directed towards information and computing sciences. Expenditure on artificial-intelligence research increased from $276 million in 2021–22 to $668 million in 2023–24.

Current state of the Internet in Australia

A schematic illustrating how FTTX (Node, Curb, Building, Home) architectures vary with regard to the distance between the optical fiber and the end user. The building on the left is the central office; the building on the right is one of the buildings served by the central office. Dotted rectangles represent separate living or office spaces within the same building.

Residential internet access

Fixed residential broadband in Australia is delivered predominantly over the National Broadband Network (NBN), a wholesale open-access network using fibre to the premises (FTTP), fibre to the node (FTTN), fibre to the building (FTTB), fibre to the curb (FTTC), hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), fixed wireless and satellite technologies. Retail service providers purchase wholesale access from NBN Co and sell services to end users. Mobile network operators also offer 5G home broadband as an alternative to fixed-line connections in some areas.

Most residential ADSL services previously used Telstra's copper customer-access network, including services supplied by competing providers through wholesale or unbundled access. As NBN fixed-line rollout areas became ready for service, affected legacy landline and ADSL services were progressively disconnected, subject to specified exemptions.

NBN Co acquired much of Telstra's HFC network and selected elements of the Optus HFC network for incorporation into the NBN. Optus infrastructure not acquired by NBN Co was intended to be decommissioned or deactivated.

In September 2025, NBN Co increased the speeds of its higher wholesale tiers, available through participating retailers: the 100/20 Mbit/s tier was raised to 500/50 Mbit/s, the 250/25 Mbit/s tier to 750/50 Mbit/s, and the approximately 1000/50 Mbit/s tier to 1000/100 Mbit/s, alongside a 2 Gbit/s tier delivering 2000/200 Mbit/s over FTTP and 2000/100 Mbit/s over HFC. The accelerated tiers are available only over FTTP and HFC; premises served by FTTN, FTTB or FTTC cannot access them without a full-fibre upgrade.

Internet in rural areas

See also: Systemic Infrastructure Initiative § Network

Internet access in Australia continues to differ between urban and rural areas, reflecting the larger distances and lower population densities that make fixed-line infrastructure costly to deploy. Premises outside the NBN fixed-line footprint may receive NBN fixed wireless or satellite services, while commercial low Earth orbit satellite services such as Starlink and 5G home broadband are available in some areas.

In August 2025, NBN Co and Amazon announced an agreement to develop an NBN wholesale low Earth orbit satellite service powered by Project Kuiper, subsequently renamed Amazon Leo. In February 2026, NBN Co opened an industry consultation on proposed wholesale speeds and pricing and said that testing and trials were expected to begin in the second half of 2026. By June 2026, NBN Co said that launch and rollout remained dependent on the availability of Amazon Leo satellite services and would proceed progressively as coverage and capacity became available. NBN Co expects its geostationary Sky Muster satellites to remain viable until approximately 2032 while customers transition to the new service.

International connectivity

See also: Telecommunications in Australia § International

Due to Australia's large size, sparse population, and distance from other countries, substantial infrastructure is required for international internet communications. In May 2026, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles stated that around 99 per cent of Australia's internet traffic travelled through 15 subsea cables.

IPv6

Adoption of IPv6 in Australia varies according to measurement methodology. A November 2024 analysis published by the APNIC reported that measurements from Akamai, APNIC, Cloudflare and Google placed Australian adoption from slightly above to well below the global average of approximately 40 per cent. Of Australia's 1,691 active networks, 417 - about one in four - had adopted IPv6. The analysis identified Telstra, Aussie Broadband, Superloop, Vodafone and Vocus as large providers that had enabled IPv6 for most customers, while Optus and TPG had not adopted it.

Online safety and content regulation

Main article: Internet censorship in Australia

The Online Safety Act 2021, administered by the eSafety Commissioner, establishes federal regulatory schemes addressing online content and online harms. Under the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, the social-media minimum-age obligation took effect on 10 December 2025, requiring age-restricted social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from creating or retaining accounts. The eSafety Commissioner describes the requirement as world-first.

National Broadband Network

Main articles: National Broadband Network and History of the National Broadband Network

The National Broadband Network is Australia's wholesale open-access network for broadband, built as a multi-technology mix of FTTP, FTTN, FTTB, FTTC, HFC, fixed wireless and satellite. In December 2020, the Australian Government declared that the NBN should be treated as built and fully operational, although substantial fibre and fixed-wireless upgrade programs have continued since.

Under the Fibre Connect program, more than five million premises originally served by FTTN or FTTC have been made eligible to upgrade to FTTP. From 1 July 2026, NBN Co removed the requirement to order a high-speed plan in order to request a full-fibre upgrade, extending eligibility to all of the approximately 860,000 customers in the FTTC footprint.

Separately, in April 2026 NBN Co announced a limited Targeted Upgrade program to move selected premises in specific locations from legacy copper services to full fibre, aiming to upgrade approximately 130,000 homes and businesses in its first year. Affected premises are to begin receiving notifications from July 2027, and NBN Co has said that suspension of legacy copper services where no upgrade order has been placed is a measure of last resort, not expected before January 2028.

Premises outside the fixed-line footprint are served by NBN fixed wireless and satellite.

Security

Cyber attacks

In 2016, the government released the cyber security strategy.

In June 2020 prime minister Scott Morrison revealed that Australian organisations, including governments and businesses, and key infrastructure were being targeted by a sophisticated foreign state-based hacker.

In January 2024, Russian hackers launched a major attack on Australian government departments and agencies. This attack, considered Australia's largest government cyberattack to date, resulted in the theft of 2.5 million documents from 65 different government entities. The hackers gained access by infiltrating an Australian law firm that worked with the government.

In 2024–25, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) received over 84,700 cybercrime reports, an average of one report every six minutes, and responded to more than 1,200 cyber security incidents, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year. ASD answered more than 42,500 calls to the Australian Cyber Security Hotline, around 116 per day. The average self-reported cost of cybercrime per report rose 14 per cent to $56,600 for small business and 8 per cent to $33,000 for individuals.

In April 2025, several large Australian superannuation funds were targeted in a coordinated credential stuffing campaign using credentials previously exposed in unrelated breaches, affecting funds including AustralianSuper, Rest, Hostplus and Insignia Financial.

On 30 June 2025, Qantas detected unauthorised activity on a third-party platform used by one of its contact centres, and customer data was subsequently released by the attackers in July 2025. Qantas stated that no identity documents, credit card numbers or personal financial details were accessed, and that frequent flyer passwords, PINs and login details were not compromised; the airline obtained an injunction in the Supreme Court of New South Wales restraining further publication of the stolen data.

Internet censorship

Main article: Internet censorship in Australia

See also: Internet censorship

Australia is classified as Under Surveillance by Reporters without Borders from 2009 to present.

On 31 December 2007, Stephen Conroy announced the federal government's intention to censor "inappropriate material" from the Internet. Under the proposed system any Australian who subscribes to an ISP would receive a "clean" version of the Internet, with the stated aim of protecting children from accessing violent and pornographic websites. The plan was later abandoned.

Internet surveillance

This section is an excerpt from Mass surveillance in Australia § Internet.[edit]

Google's transparency report shows a consistent trend of growth in requests by Australian authorities for private information, constantly rising approximately 20% year-on-year. The most recent published volume for the period ending December 2013 indicates a volume of around four individual requests per calendar day.

Telstra's transparency report for the period 1 July - 31 December 2013 does not include requests by national security agencies, only police and other agencies. Nevertheless, in the six-month period 40,644 requests were made, 36,053 for "Telstra customer information, carriage service records and pre-warrant checks" (name, address, date of birth, service number, call/SMS/internet records. Call records include called party, date, time and duration. Internet information includes date, time and duration of internet sessions and email logs from Telstra-administered addresses), 2,871 for "Life threatening situations and Triple Zero emergency calls", 270 for "Court orders", 1450 for "Warrants for interception or access to stored communications" (real time access): an average of around 222 requests per calendar day.

Cover page of the first version of the secret UKUSA Agreement, which was disclosed to the public in 2011, and was the basis for the modern Five Eyes international surveillance alliance

Aerial view of Pine Gap, one of Australia's major spy facilities

In 2013 more than 500 authors including five Nobel prize winners and Australian identities Frank Moorhouse, John Coetzee, Helen Garner, Geraldine Brooks and David Malouf signed a global petition to protest mass surveillance after the whistleblower Edward Snowden's global surveillance disclosures informed the world, including Australians, that they are being monitored by the National Security Agency's XKeyscore system and its boundless informant. Snowden had further revealed that Australian government intelligence agencies, specifically the Australian Signals Directorate, also have access to the system as part of the international Five Eyes surveillance alliance.

In August 2014 it was reported that law-enforcement agencies had been accessing Australians' web browsing histories via internet providers such as Telstra without a warrant (Optus confirmed that they cooperate with law enforcement, and Vodafone did not return a request for comment). The revelations came less than a week after government attempts to increase their surveillance powers through new legislation allowing offensive computer hacking by government intelligence agencies, and mere months after outrage surrounding the government's offer to share personal information about citizens with Five Eyes intelligence partners.

As of August 2014, no warrant is required for organisations to access the so-called 'metadata' information of private parties. This is information regarding "calls and emails sent and received, the location of a phone, internet browsing activity. There is no access to the content of the communication, just how, to or from whom, when and where". Under current law many organisations other than federal, state and territory police and security agencies such as ASIO can get access to this information, including "any agency that collects government revenue", for example the RSPCA, the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (though reportedly temporarily removed from the list), the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, Medicare, Australia Post, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, the Victorian Taxi Services Commission, the Victorian Transport Accident Commission, WorkSafe Victoria, local councils and foreign law enforcement agencies.

In the 2013-2014 financial year there were over half a million disclosures of metadata to agencies.

The Australian Communications & Media Authority provides instructions for internet service providers and other telecommunications providers about their law enforcement, national security and interception obligations.

During the 2015-2016 financial year 712 warrants were issued for access to stored communications, 3,857 interception warrants were issued, and 63 enforcement agencies were granted 333,980 authorizations for metadata access.

There's some reports said Australia has been collaborating with Chinese Great Firewall security officials in implementing its data retention and filtering infrastructure and possibly obtained surveillance technology from China.

In 2025, it's been reported that in Australia online services from search engines, to social media apps, to app stores and AI chatbots will have to check users' age, possibly via ID checks.

Web browsers

Browser page-view share in Australia, July 2026

1. Chrome: 52.58%
2. Safari: 30.41%
3. Edge: 8.49%
4. Other browsers: 8.52%

StatCounter Global Stats estimates browser usage using page views recorded on websites running its analytics service. Its figures measure page views rather than browser installations or unique users. In Australia in July 2026, its ten leading browser categories across all platforms were:

Rank	Browser category	Share of recorded page views
1	Chrome	52.58%
2	Safari	30.41%
3	Edge	8.49%
4	Samsung Internet	3.24%
5	Firefox	2.75%
6	Opera	1.26%
7	Brave	0.83%
8	Android	0.12%
9	Mozilla	0.07%
10	Yandex Browser	0.05%

Cloudflare Radar provides a separate estimate based on HTTP requests reaching websites proxied through its network. When accessed on 2 August 2026, its Australian data also listed Chrome, Safari and Edge as the three leading browser families.

Cloudflare identifies browsers using the User-Agent and Client Hints headers, excludes WebViews, and limits its quarterly sample to websites that used Cloudflare throughout the reporting period. Because Cloudflare and StatCounter use different samples and classification methods, their percentage estimates are not directly comparable.

See also

• Internet access worldwide
• Telecommunications in Australia
• Internet censorship in Australia

External links

• Whirlpool – "Whirlpool.net.au is a fully independent, non-commercial, community website, run by a team of unpaid volunteers, which is devoted to keeping the public informed about the state of broadband in Australia." Australian ADSL news, information, and forums.
• Internet Choice – Broadband Comparison website comparing a range of the leading internet providers in Australia.