Internet Society of Australia
A Chapter of the Internet Society
ABN 36 076 406 801
NEWS RELEASE Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) 2000/09 The Internet is for Everyone! 17 October 2000 WORLD INTERNET NAMES BODY TO MEET IN MELBOURNE Following a successful and intensive bid development process by key Australian Internet bodies, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced that its March 2001 board meeting will be held in Melbourne. The announcement follows significant work on the part of the Internet Society of Australia and Mr Greg Crew, an Australian who is a member of the ICANN board. 'ICANN is the body designated to make key decisions on the worldwide allocation of domain names,' said Mr Tony Hill, Executive Director of ISOC-AU and chair of the Melbourne organising committee. 'Bringing the meeting to Australia will turn an international spotlight on to Australia and it's participation in the global Internet community.' Mr Crew welcomed the ICANN decision saying that he had been working for some time to attract the meeting to Australia and had received strong support from a range of bodies, individuals and companies. 'ICANN has substantial global responsibilities but is not itself a rich organisation. Most of the funding for the Melbourne meeting needs to be provided by the host country.' In particular, Mr Hill and Mr Crew welcomed the strong support being provided by the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments, through the National Office for the Information Economy and Multimedia Victoria. 'We also welcome the early commitments of sponsorship support that have come from Melbourne IT and Maddock Lonie & Chisholm but additional sponsorship opportunities are still available', Mr Hill said. 'This has been a united approach by many organisations with interests in development of the Internet in Australia.' Strong support has been provided for the bid from key Internet and industry organisations, including .au Domain Administration (auDA), Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association (AEEMA) and the Internet Industry Association (IIA). Contact: Mr Tony Hill, 0412 128 755, ed@isoc-au.org.au