Labor should end mandatory internet filtering farce

Senator the Hon Nick Minchin
Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (to 8 December 2009)
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate

After almost two years in office it would appear Communications Minister Stephen Conroy knows his mandatory Internet censorship plan is heading for the rocks and is using delaying tactics to avoid ultimate embarrassment Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Nick Minchin said.

“Almost two years after coming to office with a plan to censor the Internet, Senator Conroy has not even managed to release results for long overdue filtering trials, let alone come close to actually implementing this highly controversial policy,” Senator Minchin said.

The trials were supposed to start last December and take a minimum six weeks, but these were delayed by several months because of a lack of support from major Internet Service Providers. Results were then expected sometime in July, but were then further delayed until August or September.

“Several of the eight participating ISPs announced are small in scale and there are serious questions about whether the relatively small number of customers that filtering technologies are being trialled on will produce any meaningful results,” Senator Minchin said.

“Senator Conroy has also failed to explain what metrics he will use to determine if the trials have been considered a success or failure, further undermining their credibility.

“Previous trials of filtering technology have exposed serious problems with both the over-blocking and under-blocking of content and concerns also remain about the adverse impact a national filtering regime could have on Internet speeds,” Senator Minchin said.

“Huge doubts also continue to surround the type of content Labor wants to filter and how it will compile a black-list which would form the basis of its filtering regime.

“The Coalition has said from the beginning it was prepared to assess any credible trial results, but almost two years after coming to office Senator Conroy has failed to produce them, let alone put forward any formal proposal for consideration.

“This incompetence has been further compounded by the Minister’s cancellation last December of the Coalition’s program under NetAlert which saw free pc-based filters provided to those families who wanted one to complement their online safety efforts.

“It is time for Senator Conroy to end this farce and produce his long overdue trial results for independent assessment. It is looking increasingly like the Minister knows his mandatory Internet censorship plan is simply unworkable, but is too embarrassed to admit it,” Senator Minchin said.

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