The information industries are the sleeping giants of the economies of the 21st century. Our policy makers have to develop a Sense of Urgency . If we, as a nation, are to compete effectively in the global market place in the decades to come we must become leading and proficient producers and users of information technology.
Information is one of our most critical economic resources.
The effective use of information technology will underpin the international competitiveness of almost every business and industry. It will be central to education, health care, leisure, entertainment, government and daily living. We face no option as a nation but to buy it or to make it. And any suggestion that more exports of wool, wheat, tourism, sugar, or iron ore is the answer needs to be dismissed as quickly as it is made. Urgent steps must be taken to reduce a deficit that threatens to become an impossible burden on the whole economy.