In New South Wales, the state government has also approached the ARA to assist with online education programs starting in the state's regional areas.

According to Michael, part of the issue is that the Australian retail industry lacked leadership from large retailers when it came to embracing e-commerce.

"The Australian retail sector had a long period of growth up until three years ago when online competition increased and the big retailers have taken some time to sort themselves out," he said.

Michael was asked by the committee what was stopping SMEs from getting online.

"A major factor would be the cost to run a website because the quotes to set one up vary. Some of those go to market solutions [that] are very expensive when they don't need to be," he said.