Australia Close to "Internet Economy" Threshold.

Australia is running a close third to the US and Canada in embracing the "internet economy" John McCarthy, group director of US firm Forrester Research told a business seminar in Sydney. While Australia may be two years behind the US it is ahead of Britain and the rest of Europe and Japan. McCarthy predicts Australia reach its internet commerce "threshold" next year. Forrester ranks countries' preparedness for internet commerce in terms of IT policy, telecommunications infrastructure, PC, internet and mobile phone penetration, public and private sector technology adoption, and research from the World Economic Forum. McCarthy said one worry is potential censorship. "The question here is if the Government is going to make a miscue around the censorship policies that are actively being debated, and how much that debate diverts people's attention from looking at base level electronic commerce issues that need to be focused on."