• From:The Australian
• February 29, 2012

Legislation supporting Labor’s mandatory internet filtering project may not hit parliament until mid-2013, according to advice provided to Stephen Conroy by his department — a timeframe which may make it an issue in the next election.

The timing was outlined in briefing documents (PDF) provided by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) to Communications Minister Conroy, outlining the current state of affairs and the action he needs to take on significant matters, following the Federal Election. The contents of the documents was first reported by iTNews.

In the documents, DBCDE noted that the Government had postponed the legislation while a review of the Refused Classification category of content (which the filter is intended to block) was carried out by the Minister for Home Affairs for the consideration of federal and state Attorneys-General.

The attorneys-general are slated to meet this month to confirm the review — and then, DBCDE noted, they would be likely to consider the scope of methodology of the review in March 2011, with recommendations to then be presented back to the attorneys-general in early 2012.

“It may then take [the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General] a number of meetings before it reaches consensus on any recommendations from the review,” wrote the department. “This suggests legislation for mandatory filtering may not be able to be introduced into Parliament before the middle of 2013.”

In mid-October, a departmental official told a Senate Estimates Committee hearing in Canberra that DBCDE was not working directly on the filter project. “At this stage, the work is all elsewhere,” they said. However, in the briefing document, the department noted there were actually several initiatives currently ongoing regarding the filter.

For starters, the department noted it would work actively with the Internet Industry Association and the Australian Communications and Media Authority on a new industry code to support voluntary filtering of child abuse material — which ISPs like Telstra, Primus and Optus have already pledged to implement.

Although it’s unclear whether it’s actively working on the matter, DBCDE discussed the issue of how reviews could be carried out by an independent expert on the processes for compiling the voluntary list — including legislation required to provide that expert with immunity from criminal proceedings for doing their job checking the list — as well as being given standing to seek review of classification decisions.

In addition, the briefing documents noted DBCDE had been allocated $840,000 in funding over the next three years to develop a software tool to assist small and medium ISPs to meet their mandatory filtering obligations.

Money has also been allocated to the Attorney-General’s Department — $1.5 million in 2010/11, $1.8 million in 2011/12 and $1.4 million “ongoing” to undertake a review of ACMA’s decision’s to find an internet address to be refused classification. And $8 million has been allocated to encourage ISPs to offer customers filtering of additional material — such as general pornography and gambling sites if a customer wanted such a service.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3016957.htm?show=transcript

WILLIAM ROLLO: Senator, you quite clearly believe in your internet filter proposal quite passionately. It has, however, been widely condemned by the industry it affects, the telecommunications industry, as being unworkable and ineffective. The Coalition aren’t backing it. Joe Hockey announced that a couple of weeks back, and the Greens aren’t too keen on it either. Under the new paradigm it’s realistically unlikely to get anywhere. Do you therefore consider it to be fair for voters to see your insistence on this policy as a time and money waster? Thank you, Mr Conroy.

TONY JONES: Stephen Conroy?

STEPHEN CONROY: The debate around the filter has revolved around two separate issues. One is there’s been a claim which is not thoroughly discredited that it would slow the internet down. It’s thoroughly discredited because in practice in Europe – all over Europe where a filter is in place that blocks child porn it has no impact. Here in Australia three telecommunications companies (Telstra, Optus and Primus) have said that they will introduce one to block child porn and it will have no impact. If you’re an engineer you’d say it’s one 70th of the blink of an eye but no noticeable effect. So many, many people have been told repeatedly that it will slow down the internet. This is not true. The other argument which Fiona makes, and she makes some very good points, is about what it is that could possibly be blocked on what’s called the black list and she’s made some very good points and that’s one of the reasons…

TONY JONES: I’ll just get you to cover them quickly because that’s not actually what the questioner asked, to be fair. He’s basically saying that in this new parliament you’re just not going to get it through and so you’re wasting time talking about it. Is that – do you actually have the votes to get it through if the Coalition is against it…

STEPHEN CONROY: Well, no legislation…

TONY JONES: …if some independents are against it?

STEPHEN CONROY: No legislation…

TONY JONES: Or can you do it without legislation?

STEPHEN CONROY: No, no legislation has come forward yet because what we’ve undertook to do originally was, when all those people claimed that it would slow things down, we did some trials and we proved that it didn’t. Fiona, as I said, has made a number of good points about the breadth of what’s called the refused classification category. So we’ve said that we’ll have a look at that independent the classification board, independent of government, we’ll review the terms of RC. So if people have a view like Fiona does, everyone in Australia now has an opportunity to put that forward. So the legislation will ultimately reflect the outcome of that review. So there’s still a review process to be gone through. So for people to say, “Oh, it definitely won’t be passed”, the legislation hasn’t been drafted and that review hasn’t taken place yet. So you don’t simply because you get a lot of criticism say, “Oh, well, I’m going to run away from that policy.”

FIONA PATTEN: And I think, you know, in answer that question, I don’t think there’s – you know, Joe Hockey may have said that he won’t support the filter as it stands but certainly Tony Abbott out at Rooty Hill, of course, said that he would – he’d do whatever he could to stop people looking at filth and, you know, Senator Alston also is another one who really pushed the notion that we needed to stop Australians from watching adult material on line. In fact I think that was the reason he was opposed to broadband was that it would become “a sewer for filth”, I think was his words.

STEPHEN CONROY: Nothing strange.

TONY JONES: It wasn’t only – to be fair it wasn’t only Joe Hockey. It was also Malcolm Turnbull very recently. Is the Coalition policy against the filter or not?

SOPHIE MIRABELLA: Well, it’s not going to work. We will support policies that will work but this will not work. It will not stop the sort of – the offensive material. It won’t stop the peer to peer discussions. It won’t stop the chat room discussions. It will not work and you haven’t actually shown how it will work. You’ve removed the support that we had for parents and we believe it is a strong role that parents should be involved in. They should exercise control in their own home and we provided free PC based filters. You took that away. You haven’t replaced it with anything and you still haven’t been able to deliver on your promise and prove that this will work. It will not work. That’s why there is such widespread opposition to it.

STEPHEN CONROY: If I could just respond to a couple of points from Sophie. Let me be absolutely technically accurate. It is 100% accurate. Blocking individual URLs as is done in Europe today, 100% accurate. No over-blocking, no under-blocking. So you block exactly what you tell it – the blacklist tells the filter to block. That’s all. Nothing else. So it does work. Then you raise the issue of peer to peer. I’ve said repeatedly, including on this show, the filter is not an attempt to deal with peer to peer. We have more money for police. We have more money for court cases. We have parent education. We have student education. We have ACMA running education campaigns all around the country as well as the filter but the filter is not designed – has never been designed and you won’t find a quote from me anywhere. So when you want to say “It doesn’t work”, it works 100% accurately on what is targeted. That’s the proposed filter not any filter that your government previously put in place.

TONY JONES: Okay.

FIONA PATTEN: I think…

TONY JONES: All right, Fiona.

FIONA PATTEN: I mean that’s the point. The line is shifting again. You know, I think probably last time we were sitting next to each other it was x-rated material was going to be blocked at that stage.

STEPHEN CONROY: No, that’s…

FIONA PATTEN: I know you say that and on that program you did…

STEPHEN CONROY: On that show we said RC.

FIONA PATTEN: …and then you said RC, that’s right, and the line shifted and now we’re actually shifting again. Now if, like in Europe, where there is a voluntary system and it’s about child pornography and that’s what it’s about – it’s not about anything else, then I think the community – I mean, I don’t think there’s anyone probably…

STEPHEN CONROY: No, we’ll there’s…

FIONA PATTEN: …anywhere saying, well, okay…

STEPHEN CONROY: …there’s two internet service providers who’ve said they will not block child pornography. Two of them have already publicly stated they will not block the child pornography list.

FIONA PATTEN: I think most…

STEPHEN CONROY: They’re on the record.

FIONA PATTEN: You know, I think most people in the community would say, “Look, you know, I would like to see people closed down. I don’t think just filtering child pornography is the answer. I think we need to be spending those resources and probably the resources that we’re putting into investigating a filter should be actually put into policing…

STEPHEN CONROY: You know that’s not true. This is material produced overseas, Fiona. You know you can’t close it down. It’s produced…

FIONA PATTEN: Well, if you find it you can close it down. I mean…

STEPHEN CONROY: No, you can’t find it in Russia. You can’t find it in the jurisdictions outside of Australia…

FIONA PATTEN: Well, I beg to differ on that one.

STEPHEN CONROY: …and no one has been able to close it down and I don’t pretend any magic wand that closes down child pornography.

TONY JONES: Okay, can I just interrupt? I’d like to hear from the other panellists and, Rob Oakeshott, you’ve said you don’t think there should be a net nanny in the household. I mean, if the legislation comes are you going to look at it and then decide or have you already decided?

ROB OAKESHOTT: You’ve answered the – yeah. I’m looking forward to the legislation and I do think there should be a net nanny in the home but that is the people in the home. I think the most valuable thing that can be done in every single household is the shoulder surfing; is having the computer in an open space where, you know, the TV is on…

STEPHEN CONROY: Well, unfortunately, an open space doesn’t exist when an iPad exists and an iPhone exists.

ROB OAKESHOTT: Yeah, that’s right, but…

STEPHEN CONROY: This argument, you should put it into the common room, the family room is now technologically bypassed.

ROB OAKESHOTT: Yeah, but there are…

FIONA PATTEN: Yeah, but the filter is not going to block inappropriate material on an iPad. I mean, it’s not going to block – as you quite rightly say, it’s only going to – well, I’m not quite sure what it’s going to block now but knowing that it’s going to block child porn…

STEPHEN CONROY: You’ve just run an entire election campaign campaigning against it so you do know.

FIONA PATTEN: No. No. Well, no, because you’re now saying, “Actually we’re going to rethink RC. We’re going to rethink what it’s going to do,” so I’m not quite sure and as you say the legislation hasn’t been existed – it doesn’t exist and you’re going to now review it but blocking stuff on the iPad that parents are concerned about is not what the filter is about.

STEPHEN CONROY: Absolutely.

TONY JONES: Okay. Go ahead.

ROB OAKESHOTT: Well, I was just going to finish. In regards to I think personal responsibility is a big factor in answering what we’re all trying to achieve in this one and looking forward to the legislation when and if it comes and let’s look it in detail.

With no legislation yet tabled, the Government’s position is best put forth by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy – Stephen Conroy’s – initial media release on the proposition:

http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2009/115

As well as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s comments on Channel Seven’s “Sunrise” Program, 26th of February, 2010:

“We have a very hard line approach on this. Is any system perfect in dealing with it? No. But is our challenge to reduce it to the absolute extent – ah – possible? Yes. And remember, what we’re doing here is the same treatment that you extend to any piece of, ahh, material out there in movies, in videos.”

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbqJ0P5M71g (from 1:28 to 2:16)

WAYS YOU CAN STOP THE FILTER
A couple of suggestions are to write to Politicians from all sides of the House of Representatives & Senate about your concerns and opposition to the filter concisely.

21st of June 2010, House of Representatives Hansard transcript: Internet Filtering petition

Congratulations to Melissa Short and everyone involved in the petition addressed to the House of Representatives against internet filtering. Here’s the tabling of it in yesterday’s sitting of the House of Representatives (at around 8:30pm AEST):

http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr210610.pdf

On page 94 is the tabling and reading of the petition against mandatory internet filtering. 2166 valid signatures make it the 4th largest in the sitting, but in total over 7000 signatures were submitted. This is as direct as our democracy gets, unfortunately. Please cite this petition in any future campaigning.

Petition homepage:

http://www.thecrowhouse.com/savethenet.html

Petition Signature Team – WA:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=267057358856

ELECTRONIC PETITIONS ARE NOT SUBMISSIBLE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The electronic petition addressed to the Senate will be tabled by Senator Ludlam:

http://efa.org.au/epetition

_________________________________________________________________________

KEY FACTS AND WEBSITES ABOUT PROPOSED MANDATORY INTERNET FILTERING IN AUSTRALIA

Mainstream media coverage of the protest held in Perth against Internet filtering on the 13th of December, 2008:

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/internet-censorship-wont-benefit-cyber-safety-protestors-say-20081214-6y3k.html

Federal Government measure we’re trying to prevent (no legislation proposed as yet):

http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2009/115

Department of Broadband, Communications, & the Digital Economy: “ISP Filtering – Frequently Asked Questions,” 17th of December, 2009:

http://www.dbcde.gov.au/funding_and_programs/cybersafety_plan/internet_service_provider_isp_filtering/isp_filtering_live_pilot/isp_filtering_-_frequently_asked_questions

A comprehensive review of the history of Labor’s varying ISP filtering policies/’plans’ since 2006:

http://libertus.net/censor/ispfiltering-au-govplan.html#s_21

“Australian Internet Filtering Wiki Page”:

http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/Australian_Internet_Filtering

Websites, organisations, and political parties/members who oppose mandatory Internet filtering:

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam – who will be speaking at the Perth event – on the ABC’s PM Program, 16th of December 2009:

http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/greencast/scott-talks-abc-pm-about-net-filtering

Liberal Democratic Party, “OPPOSE CENSORSHIP”:

http://www.ldp.org.au/files/Censorship%20brochure.pdf

Australian Pirate Party Media Release, “Conroy Misleads Public with Filter Report,” 15th of December 2009:

http://pirateparty.org.au/Conroy-Misleads-Public-with-Filter-Report

The Australian Democrats “No Internet Censorship” page:

http://www.nointernetcensorship.com/

Liberal Party Senator Cory Bernadi, “Blanket Ban on Internet a Folly”:

http://www.senatorbernardi.com/2009/02/blanket-ban-on-internet-a-folly.html

Current Liberal Party Senate Leader Nick Minchin, 2nd of September 2009:

http://www.liberal.org.au/news.php?Id=3692

Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications, & the Digital Economy Tony Smith, 10th of February, 2010:

http://www.tonysmithmp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=197

LABOR Party Senator Kate Lundy opposes a mandatory filter, stating:
“I do not believe a mandatory filter will achieve the policy goals stated and I agree that mandatory filtering creates an issue around free expression and business confidence.”
Source: http://www.katelundy.com.au/2010/02/02/q-and-a-from-my-thoughts-on-the-internet-filter/

From the Government Department of Broadband, Communications, & the Digital Economy (Conroy’s Department!), 17th of December, 2009:
“A technically competent user could circumvent filtering.”
Source: http://www.dbcde.gov.au/funding_and_programs/cybersafety_plan/internet_service_provider_isp_filtering/isp_filtering_live_pilot/isp_filtering_-_frequently_asked_questions#9.0

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Channel 7′s Sunrise Program, February 26th, 2010:
“It’s called, ah – ‘refused classification material.’ What’s it involve? Acts of child abuse, acts of sexual abuse against children, including material which also – ah – provides ‘how to’ kits in terms of conducting terrorist attacks. We have a very hard line approach on this. Is any system perfect in dealing with it? No. But is our challenge to reduce it to the absolute extent – ah – possible? Yes. And remember what we’re doing here is the same treatment that you extend to any piece of ahh – material out there in movies, in videos, and now we’re seeking to do the same when it comes to this; ‘awful material.’ Ah, which I think mums & dads watching this program this morning would be really worried about.”
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbqJ0P5M71g (from 1:28 to 2:16)

Save the Children and National Children’s & Youth Law Centre (NCYLC) both oppose the proposed mandatory internet filter plan:

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/330087/child_groups_slam_conroy_isp_filtering_plans/

Listen to co-Organisers of the Perth March 6th Rally Andrew Middleton & Ben Peterson on RTRfm’s “Indymedia,” 1st of March 2010:

http://www.rtrfm.com.au/restream/9955 (our pre-recorded interview comes in at about the 25 minute mark)

Listen to Melissa Short, Principal Petitioner of the Official anti-censorship Paper Petition addressed to the House of Representatives (http://www.thecrowhouse.com/savethenet.html), 5th May, 2010:

http://www.corbettreport.com/mp3/2010-05-05%20Melissa%20Short.mp3

Wikileaks released the ACMA Blacklist of sites for the internet filter on the 18th of March, 2009. Unfortunately, they are struggling for funding and the link is down. If you can financially support them please do: http://wikileaks.org/

Australian Internet Censorship-related Websites:
http://www.stopthefilter.org/, http://www.efa.org.au/, http://openinternet.com.au/, http://www.netalarmed.com/, http://nocleanfeed.com/, http://chairmankrudd.com/, http://www.internetblackout.com.au/, http://www.stopinternetcensorship.org/, http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/, http://www.thegiftofcensorship.com/, http://www.block-the-filter.org/, http://www.censordyne.com.au/

Perth March 6th Rally Promo posters:

http://stopthefilter.org/download/Internet%20Censorship%20Promo%20Flyer%20-%20Poster1.pdf

http://stopthefilter.org/download/Internet%20Censorship%20Promo%20Flyer%20-%20Poster2.pdf

http://stopthefilter.org/download/Internet%20Censorship%20Promo%20Flyer%20-%20Poster3.pdf

Most of the Posters available on the net regarding this issue:

http://www.somebodythinkofthechildren.com/big-list-of-no-aussie-net-censorship-posters/

2010 CAMPAIGN UPDATES
January 14: http://wearechangewa.com/2010/01/14/tear-down-the-firewall/
May 6: http://stopthefilter.org/2010/05/06/australian-anti-internet-censorship-campaign-update/
May 26: http://stopthefilter.org/2010/05/26/senator-ludlam-the-time-for-australians-to-stand-up-is-right-now-and-we-are-standing-up/

The petition addressed to the House of Representatives against mandatory internet censorship in Australia, has been presented on Monday, the 21st of June. If you would like to watch the petition being presented to the House of Representatives in Parliament, it will be broadcast live on Australian Parliamentary House webcast, and if you missed watching it live, it will be archived and still available for viewing for at least one month. The Hansard transcript of the June 21st, 2010 sitting of the House of Representatives includes the tabling and reading of this petition. Scroll down to page 94 of the PDF to view it, or download it as a single page.

Over 7,000 signatures were garnered in the six months that this petition ran for, and due to an extremely high amount of people not recording their first and last names, when signing this petition but rather just a first initial with their last name, this has resulted in only 2166 being accepted as the count of valid signatures attached to our petition. This was the 4th highest amount of signatures for a petition tabled in the sitting.

It is a terrible let down that not all submitted signatures can be counted, but according to the Standing Committee on Petitions, 2166 is still a very high amount to be collected for a petition and is a considerable amount of signatures collected by people of the public, people with no funding or affiliation with the media or any organizations to help push a campaign for this petition. So I won’t dwell on the loss of signatures for too long and just look very forward to Monday, too watching this document opposing internet censorship becoming an official government record with over 2,000 valid signatures!

Although any signatures garnered going forward cannot be added to this Monday’s presentation, I have recently been advised by the Petitions Committee that if we choose to we can keep collecting signatures, but it will not be added to the signature count for this presentation, but presented in the next sitting session (August) with mention of the original submission of 2166 signatures. Submitting further signatures will continue to show the government that we are strongly opposed. So the good news is, that if you are one of those people who signed the petition but didn’t record your full name, you now haven’t missed out on having your signature counted, you can still print out the petition and sign it and either send it to me or directly to the Petitions committee and this will count for the August session.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam (pictured, image credit: David Howe) has given a conclusive rebuttal to comments made by the Labor Government’s Communications Minister Stephen Conroy on the Four Corners documentary, Access Denied, aired on the 10th of May, 2010. The documentary, still viewable online at ABC iView, reveals “how an apparently well meaning attempt by [the Australian] government to protect children from video nasties on the net turned into a policy that critics say promotes censorship and reduces personal freedom.”

During the documentary, the Communications Minister has the following pledge to the Australian public:

To which Senator Ludlam quoted and responded to, just two days later in the Senate:

(Senator Ludlam’s full statement in the Senate can be read in transcript, or viewed as film)

This is an important distinction made by Senator Ludlam in why he opposes the mandatory ISP filtering plan, and it’s one that all reading this should consider carefully. Later in the Parliamentary statement, the Senator had this important message relating to Mr. Conroy’s pledge, which is worth emphasising:

Scott Ludlam has good authority to speak as an Australian standing up on the issue of the Labor Govnerment’s mandatory web filtering proposal, having attended and spoke at both the December 2008 and March 2010 rallys held in Perth which were aimed at informing the public and expressing opposition to the proposal. Scott also regularly asks questions and makes statements in Parliamentary Question Time and Senate Hearing about the matter, along with making public statements on his blog and taking media interviews, as he happened to yesterday on the ABC’s Triple J program Hack.

Scott’s message to Australians in his May 12 Senate statement pre-empted the May 22nd National Day of Action, which occured in 3 locations around Australia on both sides of the continent. The campaign for these Days of Action were driven by the official anti-censorship paper petition addressed to the House of Representatives, which now has around 6500-7000 signatures penned in total with 4400 already received by Principal Petitioner Melissa Short. It will be presented to the House of Representatives and put on the public Hansard record on the 21st of June, 2010 with the  Australian Petitions Committee accepting signatures no later than the 11th of June, 2010. With this recent extended submission deadline, the decision has been made to ask concerned and active Australians to continue gathering signatures, and for them to be mailed to Melissa no later than Tuesday, the 8th of June. The earlier sent the better, so they can be checked & counted before submission.

Review of the May 22nd Day of Action

BRISBANE

The Brisbane Day of Action was the most successful from the day in terms of petition signatures, with a massive 461 signatures acquired in just 3 hours. The Sunshine State delivered a beautiful day for Mel Short, Matt Anderson, Tim Hunt, Gregor, Ben, Eris, Fritz, Shonika, & Warrick to setup tables, petitions, and paraphenalia at Central Station, Brisbane, and ask the public passing by if they’re aware of the Government’s proposal, and if they’d like to sign the petition. The last person mentioned in that list, Warrick Fraser, edited the following video from the Day of Action in Brisbane and many thanks to him for doing so:

Warrick was also good enough to take some photos on the day too. Here he is on the video camera:

Table setup with petitions and information sheets:

Josh Meney’s “Censor This!” poster displayed:

A big thanks must also go to Matt Anderson for funding the printed poster and the table, and generally putting in a big effort in organising and promoting the Event.

MELBOURNE

In Federation Square, Melbourne, a fascinating piece of street theatre was carried out by Nicholas Wheeler:

Nicholas was shortly asked to move on by Federation Square security and did so, but this photograph is testament to a statement made about the inevitable possibility of legal freedoms being reduced under the mandatory ISP filter. There is video footage of the moving on of the display and attempted interview with Nic by media crew below. Afterwards, Nicholas was joined by other activists to gain petition signatures, and in all nearly 200 were gathered. A super effort and many thanks, Nic and co.!

PERTH

Despite the inclement weather overnight leading into the Saturday, Petition Coordinator Andrew Middleton, Julian, and Daniel Kruppa still managed to find a couple of hours in the afternoon to campaign for petition signatures out the front of Fremantle Town Hall. 37 signatures were garnered from the sparse Fremantle crowd, with many viabrant conversations being had with people from all walks of life. Those who were aware of the issue, had a good understanding of the problems associated with the proposed mandatory ISP filtering plan which was pleasing. In particular, an exchange with an English tourist, who despite not caring what happened in this country, was eventually turned around to signing the petition after agreeing with us that what occurs in our political landscape is highly likely to effect England’s political landscape, and vice-versa.

Next two Saturday’s complete Trifecta of Days of Action

In keeping with Scott Ludlam’s urgings for Australians to stand up, locations this Saturday and next Saturday (May 29th, June 5th) around Australia will again have grassroots activists present with petitions in hand, and the more people & signatures the better. So if you’re interested in just coming down and signing the petition, joining a posted location below and help get more signatures, or starting an Action in your local area that you’d like promoting on this website and/or on social networking sites, please take note of the location details posted below and get in contact with the following organisers!

PRINCIPAL PETITIONER & BRISBANE ORGANISER:
Melissa Short

SEE PETITION CAMPAIGNING IN BRISBANE ON THE 6TH OF JUNE, IN THIS SHORT VIDEO:

Meetup.com Calander page:

http://www.meetup.com/WeAreChangeBrisbane/calendar/13669591/

ARTICLE AUTHOR, PETITION COORDINATOR & PERTH ORGANISER:
Andrew Middleton, middle11@hotmail.com

Where: Outside the entrance to the Alexander Library, Perth Cultural Center (25 Francis Street, Perth)
When: Saturday, June 5, 11:30am – 2pm
Bring: Copies of the 14-box petition, available here. A clipboard and a pen (black or blue)

Facebook Event page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=125091344181741

Posted links on this article: (in order of appearance)

1. 10 May 2010: Access Denied, ABC "Four Corners" documentary still viewable online at ABC iView

2. 15 Dec 2009: Measures to improve the safety of the internet for families, Minister for Communications Media Release

3. 12 May 2010: Senator Ludlam's full statement to the Senate can be read in transcript, or viewed as film

4. December 2008 and March 2010 Perth rallys against internet censorship

5. 3 May 2010: Senate answers shed some more light on filter, Electronic Frontiers Australia

6. 26 May 2010: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Net Filtering, Senator Scott Ludlam

7. 25 May 2010: Senator Ludlam interview on the Hack program, ABC Radio

8. Ongoing until June: Official anti-censorship paper petition addressed to the House of Representatives homepage

9. 22 May 2010: Video footage of Brisbane's Day of Action

10. Ongoing until June: Official anti-censorship paper petition addressed to the House of Representatives printout

11. April 2010: "Censor This!" poster produced by Josh Meney

12. 6 June 2010: Anti-Internet Censorship Petition Campaigning Video - Fortitude Valley Mall, Brisbane

13. 30 May 2010: Meetup.com calander post for Brisbane's Day of Action this Saturday Sunday

14. 5 June 2010: Facebook Event page for Perth's Day of Action this Saturday

We start the update on the Australian anti-internet censorship campaign – mobilised due to the Labor Government’s proposed mandatory ISP filtering plan (see WeAreChange WA’s previous article on the matter) – with the above poster designed by Josh Meney, an Australian activist who put his artwork onto the web in the past fortnight free to publish. Thanks to Josh for pouring his creative energies into this striking and provocative poster. It joins a now burgeoning amount of fantastic artistic pieces that have been created about this issue.

Certainly those of us who wish to see the content on the Internet remain free from Government control for the Australian public – both now and in years to come – will need to continue to pour energy into this campaign as despite some speculation, the proposed mandatory ISP filter is still planned to go ahead by the current Labor Government and still has strong support from a small but influential assortment of political parties, ministers, and interest groups. An article in The Australian on the 29th of April titled, “Rudd retreats on web filter legislation,” states:

However, Prime Minister Rudd responded to the article by stating he had “no advice to that effect.” He later said when questioned if the legislation would be introduced this year: “Look, can I ask that you put that to the relevant minister. I don’t have any other advice to what I put to you earlier.” (source: ZDNet.com.au) ZDNet Australia had already that morning questioned the office of the relevant minister, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, about the reported delay.

These type of listless responses should be of little surprise to anyone who has a remote interest in the Australian political environment in the modern era. For one, it’s typical handballing from Government minister to Government minister, as if these people don’t speak to each other about issues of social & moral importance such as this one. The Australian makes a simple observation regarding Parliamentary sittings and neither the Prime Minister nor the Communications Minister can give any sort of indication to the public as to the issue raised by The Australian. That being, a date for when legislation will be tabled for a policy this Rudd Labor Party successfully campaigned with at the last Federal Election held on the 24th of November, 2007 – nearly 30 months ago.

Secondly, the Labor Party Government currently has insulation batts, a health plan, mining industry tax plan, and ironically enough, a National Broadband Plan to win over the public on and push through Parliament prior to a Federal Election sometime this year. They will quite simply run out of time to table legislation for this proposal before then. Lastly, the best way to appear to be acting on an issue without actually doing anything, is by setting up Committees and public consultations regarding the issue. And once they’re complete, by setting up more. It buys valuable (stalling) time, as well as giving the impression to the public that the Government cares about what the people have to say on the particular matter, and is doing all it can to achieve the best outcome possible.

Whether the above points are agreed upon or not, the likely delay of the tabling of internet censorship legislation until after the election does not mean that us Australians concerned about this proposal should sit on our hands until after we’ve been to the polls, which mainstream media sources have said is likely – but not necessarily – to be called by Labor sometime in September or October of this year. Quite the opposite; this is actually a dangerous period for the internet censorship issue, as it threatens to lay doment and forgotten about in the face of media-saturated issues such as health, global warming/climate change/the emissions trading scheme, the economy, and recently, a proposed 40% tax on mining industry profits. Furthermore, while this writer doubts both the tabling of legislation prior to any Federal Election and a 2011 election, the incumbent Labor Government does legally/constitutionally have until the 16th of April, 2011 to hold the next election.

Thankfully, the Australian grassroots anti-internet censorship campaign rolls on around the nation in the months of May & June.

Corbett Show interview begins leadup to May anti-web censorship activism

Just yesterday (the 5th of May), Melissa Short (pictured below), the Principal Petitioner of the official anti-censorship paper petition addressed to the House of Representatives – which expresses to Parliament that the majority of Australians’ are in condemnation of the proposed legislation and asks the House to “repeal all legislative action concerning implementation of compulsory content filtering of the internet in Australia” – was interviewed by James Corbett (pictured below) of the Corbett Report. In the interview, James & Melissa discuss the nature of the internet censorship proposed in Australia, how far along the Government is in implementing the content filter, and why Melissa decided to pursue this avenue of dissent against the proposal. Download an MP3 file (11.6megabyes) of the interview and a link to the petition from this page: http://www.corbettreport.com/index.php?i=Documentation&ii=316

(This is the 2nd time James Corbett has dedicated a show or interview to the Australian Government’s mandatory ISP filtering plan, with the entirety of Episode #82 from April 2009 dedicated to the issue. It’s available free to download with documentation here.)

The petition itself was pre-approved for submission to the House of Representatives on January 13th of this year, and Melissa reports a steady stream of petition signatures having come her way since then, with an unknown amount being possibly sent directly to Parliament or yet to be mailed. A central part of the interview is the announcement of the final deadline date for sending in signatures to Melissa, which is the 29th of May, 2010. Tabling to the House is likely to be on June 21st, 2010, however, the Petitions Committee requires petition forms to be received in early June for the 21st of June tabling, so please have signed petition forms (one signature will do!) in the mail, sent to the address provided on this petition by May 29th at the very latest.

Also mentioned by Melissa in the interview is the upcoming protest in Melbourne against the proposed internet censorship plan, occuring Saturday, May 22nd, 2010. The event will be held in Federation Square of Melbourne’s CBD and starts at 11:30am. A copy of the aforementioned petition will be available to sign at the event. On the back of this initiative shown, activists in Brisbane and Perth have joined in by organising a campaign on the same day to acquire signatures for the petition addressed to the House of Representatives. Details for Brisbane’s Day of Action can be found on Facebook and Meetup.com. Perth’s Day of Action will occur at midday on May 22nd, with the meeting place being out the front of the Fremantle Town Hall. Contact myself for further details. Please do not bring partisan material to hand out to the public, this is an action solely aimed at preventing internet censorship. Please do bring printed out sheets of the petition, a clipboard, a pen, cameras, respect for the Police, and a confident, polite, and informative approach to members of the public. Hope to see you on the 22nd of May!

Fremantle Town Hall, the meeting place on May 22nd at midday, for petition signature campaigning.

Recap of key points in the article:

1. Josh Meney’s provocative anti-Australian internet censorship poster.
2. Australian Labor Government unlikely to table legislation before the next Federal Election, but legally have until mid-April to hold the next election. The campaign against internet censorship in Australia rolls on.
   
3. Melissa Short is interviewed by James Corbett of the Corbett Report on the 5th of May, regarding the soon-to-be-tabled Official paper petition addressed to the House of Representatives.
4. Anti-Internet Censorship actions planned for May 22nd, 2010 in Melbourne, Brisbane (Facebook/Meetup), and Perth (read last paragraph of the article).