Australia Could Be at the Forefront of Metaverse; The Grand Vision
Updated: Feb 27
Australia is a unique country as Australians do not afraid to test new things. As Metaverse is expanding in different industries fast, I personally believe that Australia can lead this trend towards becoming one of the first countries to go all in Metaverse.
Australia can lead the move towards Metaverse and build a strong virtual foundation due to different reasons.
First of all, we have a strong digital infrastructure. We might not have the fastest internet speed in the world, however, it is good enough to move the whole nation online when pandemics happened.
I personally did not have any issues running meetings etc on our internet. Now, it can be improved, however, I personally trust that existing infrastructure can cater to Metaverse as well.
Given the fact that the Metaverse is still in its infancy, we can start the path and then evolve as we move forward.
Obviously, there are a lot of considerations that need to be sorted out. However, I take this opportunity and briefly explain how Australia as a country (federal government, state government, city councils, tourism, and fintech) can start the strategic planning to make the move.
Australia to Metaverse; Who we are talking to?
With proper planning, I can see some sections of the country move towards Metaverse, even if they only provide basic services.
I am pretty excited to see the following agencies make the move to Metaverse even in 2022.
Here are the areas that I cover in this blog by providing some high-level overview on what it will look like to think about Metaverse.
Australian federal government metaverse strategy
Australian State government metaverse strategy
City councils metaverse strategy
Australia Tourism in Metaverse
Australian federal government Metaverse strategy
As the Metaverse is becoming mainstream in our lives (similar to the internet 20 years ago, and social media 15 years ago), federal government agencies must start thinking about what will this look like.
Speaking about government, while the internet started by the military in the US, I predict that government will be a bit left behind when it comes to Metaverse unless they invest a huge amount of taxpayers’ money to prepare themselves for a WEB 3.0 world.
This will put a lot of pressure on politicians since they are already wasting a lot of money and resources from taxpayers and injecting funds into these lucrative projects may not pay off anytime soon.
As an example, Miami has now invested in Miamicoin as it is the first municipality to do this. They have invested $7.5M into this to ease the taxpaying and other Metaverse services.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is a national (publicly funded) broadcaster, providing news, current affairs, and entertainment programming on television, radio, and digital services across Australia. The ABC’s principal function is to provide content that informs, educates, and entertains all Australians, contributes to a sense of national identity, and reflects the cultural diversity of the Australian community.
Metaverse for ABC can simply mean to stream their programs in Metaverse. This can be evolved towards immersive news experience and also, sports can become a big hit in Metaverse. Also, by releasing their NFT collection, they can build an exclusive club of fans to give them exclusive access to events, news, trips, and some other utilities as well.
Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is, an Australian citizen’s right to vote, as established by the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.
It is natural to think about voting in Metaverse! Now, this may sound crazy, but by building a blockchain-based platform, we can have a very secure voting platform. I believe there are lots of startups that are already working on this section as well that can be leveraged to have a secure and safe election.
Give if we can have a digital voting system, we can have all our federal elections in Metaverse.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) The AFP is the Australian Government’s primary law enforcement agency. The role of the AFP is to enforce Commonwealth criminal law, to contribute to combating organized crime and to protect Commonwealth interests from criminal activity in Australia and overseas as a key member of the national security community.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) strategy to move to Metaverse can help citizens alot to fight with online crimes.
We definitely need AFP in Metaverse. Not only to monitor the network for any malicious activity but also to offer their online services in Metaverse as well.
The AFP’s role is to enforce Commonwealth criminal law, contribute to combating complex, transnational, serious, and organized crime impacting Australia’s national security, and protect Commonwealth interests from criminal activity in Australia and overseas.
This can be in the physical world, online, and also Metaverse.
Australian Taxation Office (ATO) The ATO is the government’s principal revenue collection agency. The ATO’s role is to effectively manage and shape the tax, excise, and superannuation systems that support and fund services for Australians.
It will be interesting to see Australians launch their taxes directly from Metaverse. There will be next to 100% chance people make money in Metaverse real-time. Now, the tax regulations in Metaverse might not be at full details and maturity now, and that is the exact reason ATO should launch their Metaverse branch!
This way they can start to evolve the taxation regulations and start protecting citizens against tax fraud.
This list can go on and on and I can bring more federal government agencies as well. Actually, I challenge all Australian government agencies to think about how they can offer their services in Metaverse.
Australian State government Metaverse strategy
At Federation in 1901, what is now the Northern Territory was within South Australia, what is now the Australian Capital Territory and the Jervis Bay Territory were within New South Wales, and Coral Sea Islands were part of Queensland. Ashmore and Cartier Islands was accepted by Australia in 1934 and was annexed to the Northern Territory prior to the adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1942, deemed effective from 1939; it has thus become part of Australia.
The majority of Australians live in the east coast states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory, which have around three-quarters of the Australian population. Most of the major population centres are located east and south of the Great Dividing Range on the coastal plains and their associated hinterland regions.
The state government has a similar structure to the Australian federal government. Most of the state government services can be offered in Metaverse.
Health, Education, and Customer Service offering can be provided in Metaverse. Australian state government agencies can have virtual booths to help people with their requests. As you may know, if you want to talk to an agency, you must stay on the line for hours, and then you may not be able to get what you are looking for.
On the other side, if the state government, has their booth in Metaverse, it is very similar to talking to a real person and finding your answers pretty immediately. As the number of requests increases, state governments can use advanced AI-based chatbots to provide basic triage and then guide people towards more customized conversations.
City councils Metaverse strategy
There was a time that super localization on the internet or social media was not necessary. Now it is a must. I argue that this trend will continue in the future and Metaverse.
City councils in Australia are playing a key role to connect the communities and bring the people of a suburb together. This is important because while Metaverse enables global reach between people from different continents, local connections and relationships still will be crucial.
City councils can release their plans in different forms in Metaverse. Also, they can hold their monthly meetings, community events, stream live venue events, hold q&a sessions, and even the election of their local council as well.
Australia tourism in Metaverse
Imagine you are sitting on your couch in New York or LA and you see a must event is going on in Sydney Opera House.
I can predict that Sydney Opera House will go to Metaverse very soon.
All you have to do is wear your gurgle and connect to the event, make the ticket payment (or even use buy now pay later) and enjoy the show.
The upside for Sydney Opera House is that now they have a global audience as they do not have to wait for people to actually TRAVEL to Australia to enjoy the events. Now, virtually anyone can enjoy the event streams and connect to the country’s culture.
You can even book a virtual climbing tour for Sydney Harbor Bridge, Ghan train, Gold coast beautiful beaches, Melbourne’s comedy shows, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Queensland, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Blue Mountains National Park, New South Wales, Bondi Beach, New South Wales, and National Parks.
Fintech; buy now pay later
I strongly believe that fintech will be one of the industries that can adopt in Metaverse very quickly. This can be a wide range of services for individuals and businesses. Including buying now pay later service for individuals.
Many of the events (concerts, meetings, meetups, etc) will have a ticket cost, and why not offer to buy now pay later not only for these types of events but also for retailers to provide a better experience for their customers.
Also, as businesses are expanding into Metaverse, lenders can start to think about unsecured business loans to help Metaverse businesses natively in the platform.
Metaverse is becoming very exciting in the next couple of years. If you think about moving to Metaverse as a business or startup, Contact me here to explore this in more detail.
