To all who responded,
                                    Thanks for the responses, for some
time I've been trying without luck to get into a meaty debate on this
issue.
In an article I read last week it stated that approximately 70%to80% of
all internet purchases in Australia are done overseas even though there
are local competitors on the net competing with the same products. If
Australia is to compete on even ground with the rest of the world as the
internet is a global medium then we must deregulate and run on the same
rules as the rest of the world, now I know that "The rest of the world"
may have their own set of rules, the fact of the matter is that we need
to compete with the big boys in this game and that's the USA. The fact
that we have some morale issues with regards to being nice and fair is
ludicrous, people this is about business and I as a retailer am being
disadvantaged by my own country while my competitors XXX.com and XXX.net
have access to what I would consider my market (Australia). I understand
that it may give one business an edge on another but as David Wise
stated just because I want to buy a property along side a main road
whereby shear exposure I'm going to attract more customers than my
competitor who is down a side street, I don't expect to be told that you
cant do that because its unfair!!! Fairness, social equality and
appropriateness are commendable words but that's it. Words aren't going
to put Australia on the map as a global economic power,  all these
niceties can exist only here in XXX.com.au or XXX.net.au world. In the
real world the internet is totally about wealth, cash, transaction and
Australian businesses are missing out.
             George stated that the DNS isn't a search engine but I
would rather leave that issue up to the consumer . I don't believe that
we can dictate to the market as to what method or medium that a customer
wants to use to arrive at their chosen destination. The internet might
not owe me a living but  the decisions made today on what can and cant
be done may have an effect on whether my company exists in the future in
which case I might owe someone. The internet isn't geographically
discriminate and as such any foreign business(USA) will continue to take
MY clientele and the fact that my MARKETING skills should be enough may
be true but at what cost.
            Ari, you mentioned about greed being one of the reasons why
to regulate domain names and blackmail these things are minor side
issues which happen in every day life in every day situations and
shouldn't be a factor to withhold millions of dollars of transactions
that currently go offshore.

             Please everybody don't take this the wrong way but Im very
passionate about this issue as you are playing with not only my lively
hood but all internet businesses in Australia now and forever. I hope I
have made my political agenda quite clear!

thanks Shaun