Barry Robinson

Well, if we're going to use the term "Economy", I would have to say our Digital version of an Economy is quite dismal at the moment (at least in my eyes):

• We have a private company with a monopoly on our national infrastructure, who have the interests of their investors at heart, not the country.
• Due to the monopoly, other companies find it hard to compete, as a lot of time there is no effective "economic" method to enter a lot of the market...
• We allow this monopoly to dictate growth and govern our initiative. I will provide Next-G as an example - why is it I can not get Next-G on Optus or Vodafone? Why aren't we using 3G, like the rest of the world?
• We are bluffed into thinking that we need Telstra to build an NBN... Sure, it would help if they came to the party, but judging from their recent NBN Submission, I am doubtful it will ever be in any helpful or of national interest.
• We're bluffed into thinking Telstra are the good guys and Terria are the evils... Yes, Sol Trujillo is as Aussie as Simon Hackett, I am sure.
• We try and apply "safe" and conventional methods to solve our Communication
• We have a government who wants to sensor our Information... This is about as helpful as putting a dam on a river in a drought stricken area, then setting up a blog asking the farmers how they felt about it.

I am by no means an Economist, but my understanding is that in order have a flourishing economy, you need free trade and competition... we have neither, at least in the Communication Infrastructure part of town.

I live in a part of the country that can not get ADSL2 unless you go through Telstra. There is no technical reason, or visible financial reason for Telstra not allowing other companies to rent/lease these ports?

I am not even going to get started with our complete dependence of Microsoft products in the Public sector. Or the issue of software patents and how it affects our software industry.

We seriously make life hard for ourselves when it comes to technology in this country.

Cheers,
Barry