Labor is the only political party committed to delivering a mandatory internet filter in Australia. Both the Liberals and The Greens oppose the mandatory aspect of the clean feed filter; a form of censorship defended by the Christian Right in its various forms.

Kate Ellis: delivering what for Adelaide?, originally uploaded by poodly.

Labor's political argument, as articulated by Senator Conroy, is that it is designed to prevent child pornography to protect kids. All those who are critical of the mandatory aspect are deemed to be defending the freedom of individuals to indulge in child pornography and supporting the abuse of children; even though the overwhelming preponderance of content which it is illegal to possess is still not published on the open web but rather inside of secret networks.

Labor, which has always had a troubled relation to free speech and individual freedom, is opposed to the more acceptable PC based filtering in the home. Labor sees the internet as a lawless jungle where libertarian nerds roam free amongst all the internet nasties. The internet stands for the dark side and must be censored, even though parents first want greater education options and at-home filtering and as a next-best option, an opt-in filter.

The opposition by the Greens and the Liberals means that Labor's legislation for a dodgy mandatory internet filter is effectively dead on arrival in the Senate. Thank goodness. The filter never was a cyber-safety tool designed to keep kids safe online. It's designed to "harmonise" censorship laws, not protect children from inappropriate content. It's censorship for its own sake.

Australia has one the most restrictive internet censorship regime in the Western world. Under amendments made to the Broadcasting Services Act in 1999, material rated as low as MA-15+ can be prohibited. It is the Refused classification category that is problematic. As Stephen Collins of Electronic Frontier Australia points out:

The fact is that of all material classified RC, it is only material depicting the sexual abuse of children that is that is illegal to own. For good reason. No reasonable person in today’s society believes that such material is suitable for adults to access, let alone children.Material that falls under the RC umbrella is unquestionably sometimes distasteful or controversial or contains or depicts concepts of an adult nature; drug abuse, explicit material about abortion, guides to assisted suicide, violence. Whether you personally approve of such things or not, none of this material is illegal to possess in this country; it’s perfectly legal for me or you to own a copy of Baise Moi or The Peaceful Pill, just not to make it available for sale.