ABSTRACT
In August 2000 the Australian Cabinet established an Interdepartmental Committee on Spatial Data Access and Pricing (IDC 2001). The stimulus for the establishment of the committee was the realisation that fundamental spatial information provides part of the national infrastructure in a similar way to roads and railways. In Australia, the annual spend on fundamental spatial data has recently been approximately AU$200 million by the federal government plus a similar annual total by state and territory governments. So the Australian Interdepartmental Committee saw that there were strategic and financial benefits in improving access to spatial data and produced the four main recommendations reproduced below (IDC 2001). In the recommendations the use of the word Commonwealth refers to the Commonwealth of Australia:
The new Office of Spatial Data Management has developed a corporate plan to expedite the delivery of spatial data, information and knowledge for the economic, social and environmental benefit of Australia.
