Collingwood is the second high-rise estate to be wired up by the non-profit company Infoxchange, with its motto "Technology for social justice". Tenants have been offered a free refurbished PC, a free three-day computer course, and access to email and broadband for $5 to $15 a month, depending on downloads.

Infoxchange was founded by former social worker Andrew Mahar. In 2001, the Melbourne-based non-profit company connected Fitzroy's high-rise Atherton Gardens estate to broadband and distributed 621 refurbished computers to tenants, the first project of its kind in Australia.

Mr Mahar says that when he proposed wiring the Fitzroy flats, sceptics told him that computers would add to residents' isolation. But a study of the scheme, done by Swinburne University's Institute for Social Research, found the opposite was true: computers allowed tenants to participate more fully in the world around them. Young people used them to do homework, the unemployed searched for jobs and training, while an intranet site told residents what was going on around the estate.

Neighbours even began emailing each other to suggest meetings. Mr Mahar's favourite story is about a Serb and a Croat who lived next door to each other but had never spoken: after going online they began chatting about Solitaire on their PCs.

Despite the benefits that flowed from allowing the residents to go online, Mr Mahar says it took three years to raise the money for computers and broadband for the Collingwood estate. Microsoft has supplied software, companies such as the ANZ Bank, National Australia Bank and Telstra have provided training, and money has come from the Office of Housing and the Victorian Community Support Fund. Global management firm AT Kearney, one of the project's sponsors, has offered to undertake a cost-benefit analysis.

The job of connecting 989 flats began in August and is expected to cost $3.5 million over three years, or about $300 a household. Mr Mahar anticipates that the Kearney assessment will establish a return of $3 or $4 for every dollar spent. His hope is that, once the cost benefit is established, it will be easier to persuade the Government to continue to help connect the poor.

The Collingwood project is one of 10 that are under way or proposed around Australia, with the intention of providing internet, computers and training to people who would otherwise struggle to afford them. The other communities will include primary students in Heathdale, near Werribee, whose computers provide a link between school and home; a new housing estate in western Sydney; socially isolated teenage mothers in South Australia; the indigenous community in Shepparton and a remote indigenous community in the Northern Territory.

Mr Mahar wants to set one up in each state and territory and then analyse their economic benefits. His aim is to demonstrate to policymakers the advantages of providing an internet connection to everyone who wants one.

Before becoming involved in computers, Mr Mahar was a social worker whose job it was to find beds for the homeless. His first computer project involved creating a database of homeless shelters so that those in need of a bed could find out for themselves where one might be available. This was in 1991, before the internet was a household reality for those who can afford a computer.

The homeless project confronted Mr Mahar with two insights that have determined the course of his work since. The first was that computers are a powerful information-sharing tool; the second that, unless you have money, you can't use one. Mr Mahar's passionate belief is that the internet should be considered basic infrastructure, like roads and running water — a service that is available to everyone.

The way Mr Mahar sees it, Australians have three challenges: climate change, affordable housing and the digital divide — that is, the gap between those who have easy access to the internet and those who do not.

He argues that information is necessary to participate fully in modern society. Last century, this meant citizens needed to be literate and to have (or be near) a radio and TV. Now they also need to be able to use to a computer and the internet.

Mr Mahar understands that not everyone will agree with this analysis. He agrees that the question of whether pensioners have a PC is not a mainstream concern.

"There is a real lack of connectedness. We've had decades of me-ism, of 'what's in it for me and what can I get out of it?'," he says. "The economic meltdown shows that the reliance on me is really misplaced. We were all going to become shareholders instead of citizens."

Mr Mahar believes that, as the internet becomes more important, the Government has a responsibility to make sure the poor are not left out.

The British Government has a policy of "ensuring that every individual … (irrespective of personal circumstances) is able to access low-cost, convenient computing and internet technology" and has the skills to do so. Mr Mahar would like a similar policy in Australia.

Back in Collingwood, Antoinette El Kamah, 63, says that when she first heard about the computer training course, "I was frightened of it, but I thought I should do it … It's opened up a whole world and I am very grateful."