The Front Page: The Kiwis being digitally excluded in a changing world

A petition on digital exclusion was delivered to Parliament by the Citizens Advice Bureau. Photo / Supplied

Sharren Wilson lives in a caravan on a site in a rural area.

She sold her home to make ends meet after being made redundant from her job. Everything was going as well as it could with her new lifestyle until the hot water cylinder in her caravan sprung a leak, leaving the interior and some electric wiring inches deep in water.

She urgently needed help and tried to apply to Work and Income for financial support to get the cylinder fixed.

It was at this point that she learned the phrase: "digital exclusion".

"It took me four days to actually speak to somebody who could give me a resolution," Wilson tells the Front Page podcast.

"I could not sign up at the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) because they had an old email address of mine and I longer have WiFi capability for a cell phone to change it. So we couldn't get through that way. All I had was the phone, and I was constantly cut off."

Wilson's story is among a number of others that have been shared with politicians by the Citizens Advice Bureau to explain the real-world consequences of digital exclusion.

Sharren Wilson is still all smiles in her caravan despite her struggles. Photo / Supplied

A special parliamentary debate hosted late last week shed light on the many New Zealanders who feel that the Government's strategic shift to digital technology has left them excluded from accessing public services.

Sacha Green, a national adviser for the Citizens Advice Bureau, explains that a digital-only approach in the public service is stopping people from accessing their entitlements.

"It's across the board," says Green.

"This is about access to public services that are about rights, entitlements and meeting obligations. This includes Work and Income, Inland Revenue, passports and citizenship, applying to the tenancy tribunal and getting employment mediation. It's just absolutely across the board."

Sacha Green, a national adviser for the Citizens Advice Bureau. Photo / Supplied

A common misconception is that digital exclusion is caused by the unwillingness of the ageing population to adopt new technology. And while there is an element of this at play, Green says that it also impacts those living in rural locations, the disabled community, those with language barriers as well as New Zealanders with language barriers.

"The Department of Internal Affairs, which does a lot of work in this area, identified one in five New Zealanders experienced digital exclusion," says Green.

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The severity of this exclusion will vary on a case to case basis, but issues severe enough for the CAB to put a petition to Parliament.

Each politician who attended the special event thanked the CAB for its work - an admission that the organisation is fulfilling a need across the community.

The onus they're carrying is particularly hard, given that these issues aren't only limited to the public sector.

The nation's biggest corporates are also steadily shifting their services online, leaving many New Zealanders in limbo. The most contentious example of this is seen in the banking sector, with many banks closing rural branches in recent years.

The speed of the change has caught people like Wilson off guard.

"I haven't been to the bank for a very, very long time because the last time I went back to Christchurch, I couldn't even get into the damn joint," she says.

"It's all changed. And that all happened in a matter of three years. I now live about 65km from the nearest bank."

While corporates are free to evolve in the way that they believe best serves their customers, Green says the public sector still has an obligation to deliver services to all New Zealanders.

Green's aim with the petition is to raise awareness, leading to changes in how the Government currently deals with the transition to digital.

"Historically, Government agencies had actual targets for getting their interactions online. And rather than encouraging that as an option, what they've done is often switch off or downgrade the alternative. So it makes it hard for people to get help in other ways."

Green hopes to see real action from the Government in the coming months and years to ensure that no New Zealanders are left behind.

• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.

• You can follow the podcast at nzherald.co.nz, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.