This address is concerned with the question as to whether the information infrastructure that will emerge from the efforts of the 1990s will serve the interests of Australia and Australians as a whole, or will significantly benefit some participants to the serious detriment of others. It is used in distinction to large corporations, including government agencies and authorities, government business enterprises and large joint stock corporations. Corporations delivering telecommunications, entertainment and news services are vast, and have large investments, market share, profitability and influence to protect.
Government agencies possess significant empires that they seek to protect.
They also have established agendas they pursue over long periods, overlaid by policy initiatives of the governing party or parties. It is argued that the information infrastructure movement in Australia is in danger of being hi-jacked by these 'big battalions'. The Limited Focus of Contemporary Debate Discussions about information infrastructure have used a vocabulary that reflects historical relationships between people and social institutions, rather than the relationships which are more appropriate to the present and the future. These terms and their usages are consistent with the force-feeding of the public by institutions who possess the information and services. Even the term 'access' is primarily used to mean the ability to receive data pumped down a channel to the consumer.