http://www.zeropaid.com/news/88940/aussie-govt-postpones-net-filter/

Yet another ill thought out Labor policy is quietly ditched prior to the election. Conroy returns from the US after the US ambassador took the unprecedented action of criticizing Government policy.

http://apcmag.com/conroy-denies-plans-to-make-filter-avoidance-illegal.htm

The latest version is to try and block all RC comment based on complaints, and even extending this to encrypted and P2P traffic. Why not simply shut down the net, as this would then block nearly every major website incl facebook youtube etc.

At what point will Rudd realize that this is a fantasy?

Let's hope this idea is never resurrected.

The idea of a Great Firewall of Australia to match the Great Firewall of China is most unappealing.

Well that's the cycle of a poorly thought out policy by slimy incompetent pollies in a nutshell.
1- throw up something extremist and authoritarian to seduce the more rabid swinging voters without thought of the consequences (or for that matter, how to enforce it)
2- upon realizing that your lame policy resonates poorly with everyone else- or is unworkable (or both in this case), instead of just admitting you were wrong, stick to the guns for a while so that it doesn't look like you're backing down like an idiot, or you don't know what you're doing
3- back down, hope everyone forgives you and forgets the whole thing ever happened.

Not me though- but then again, I'd have never voted Labor anyway- so I can't say I'd be making a difference that didn't already exist.

Censorship did not start with the Labor government nor is it opposed by the current opposition. Tony Abbot is in favour of it. It has a long tradition in Australia. The ugly tradition existed before Howard, but the following is an example of censorship under Howard.

The Peaceful Pill Handbook by Philip Nitschke provides the reader with a range of practical and useful strategies to end their life peacefully and with dignity, but had only few weeks of shelf life until it was totally banned in Australia. Applauded by the Right to Life Movement, criticized and held in contempt by those who saw it as a blow for freedom of speech and democracy in Australia, the Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, enjoyed another moment of a rather shameful success. The ban of the Peaceful Pill Handbook was not only another building stone for a de-democratization process in Australia, but it documents clearly that suicide, although legal, is a rhetorical freedom if there is no access to information on how to accomplish a peaceful death

David,

I agree, the Liberals are actually far from liberal. Australia has probably the most far ranging and comprehensive censorship laws of any OECD country.

What makes it worse is that all the activism I see is to further restrict what people see and read.

A bill of rights that includes freedom of speech is the last thing these fuddy duddies want.

My 10 year old son stumbled upon some dirty pictures on the internet at school, after typing the word "Endeavour" into a search engine for a project on captain Cook's boat. This was at a state school with all the filters and stuff.
My older teenage son has a lappy which was provided free by some well-meaning program, but it is so limited he cant even access government websites, so its only used for music.
My friends son, attending a catholic school, ws told he needed a 4Gb stick for schoolwork. There's a site that bounces things round to get past the filters, and so thats 4GB of porn and music.

The internet is like a public convenience wall, anybody can write anything on it any time they like. We dont want our kids to be exposed to such things, but we have to be realistic that there will be objectionable material at public conveniences.

The terrorists and beastiality enthusiasts will find a way of doing their thing regardless of what mechanisms are in place, I would think let them go for it and keep an eye on them.