'Please explain', Conroy tells Hockey on filter

Renai LeMay
Thursday, 05 August 2010 22:45

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The office of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy tonight challenged Shadow Treasurer to explain the Coalition's opposition revealed this afternoon to Labor's controversial internet filter policy.

Hockey revealed on Triple J's Hack program this afternoon that the Coalition would block the filter legislation when it appeared in parliament, in a move that signals the death of the controversial project if the Greens control the balance of power in the Federal Senate after the upcoming election in several weeks.

'Joe Hockey needs to explain why refused classification material hosted on overseas websites should be available, while RC material on Australian hosted sites is not,' said a spokesperson for Conroy tonight. 'The current online content regulations regarding prohibited content were introduced by the Howard Government in 2000,' they added, referring to laws against refused classification content being hosted in Australia.

Shadow Communications Minister Tony Smith tonight said a Coalition Government would not introduce a mandatory ISP filter - instead it would implement what he described as 'practical and effective measures to enhance online safety and security' - including returning to the PC-based filtering approach utilised by the previous Howard Coalition government.

But Conroy's office immediately challenged such a proposal.