>From what I can see even though the current system has helped to get us
off the ground  it seems to have reached it's limits.
         FIRSTLY - From what I can see their is too many small groups
operating, the mere fact that someone has started up .au.com leads me
too believe that there is no uniformity. Their are too many people
pushing their own barrows and not enough continuity.

         SECONDLY- I believe that even though we have Yahoo Australia we
still don't have an Australian specific search engine (so I'm told).
Australian searches should come up with australian businesses first.
Currently no two search engines are the same nor do they search in the
same way.

         THIRDLY- Domain names aren't the be all and end all as David
wise has stated, the problem is that we aren't competing on the same
level as the U.S.A. Regardless of what customers should or will do, they
aren't doing it now.

No wonder their are people out their saying that the internet is
hopeless for finding things. Now I'm talking about the lowest common
denominator not the whiz bag operator, the basic user is where we should
be aiming to satisfy

         CONCLUSION- The australian web should be set up as a virtual
Australia with virtual states and virtual roads. If I want to find
something in my local area then I want to be able to find it easily not
spend hours searching through rubbish. That is why people use domain
names to do their searches because it cuts out all the rubbish quickly.
Put rules on the number of domain names you can own. Don't allow people
the ability to link domain names to one location perhaps. The only
reason their is such a fuss about generic domain names is that (1) you
can have them in the states (2) some are getting away with it while
others cant. Leave domain names up to market forces but put in rules
reduce as much as possible large business domination and finally keep it
within Australia

thanks Shaun LeCornu