You know what? That proposed mandatory internet filter the Labor government is trying to force upon us has been rather unpopular. It might even cost them some votes. Which is probably why they’ve decided to delay legislating it until after the next federal election later this year.
Nicola Berkovic at Australian IT says that a spokesperson for Senator Conroy has confirmed that the government won’t be introducing the legislation to parliament in either May or June, which means even if it’s introduced in August, it’s unlikely it will be passed.
According to the spokesperson, the reason for the delay is because they government is still talking to ISPs and considering public submissions. Apparently what they are not doing is backing down. Of course, it’s not like they could actually admit to giving up the policy if they decided against it now after trying to ram it down our throats for so long.
Shane
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 11:33 AMThis brings up two thoughts…
Firstly – they don’t want to upset their constitutes before the next election and pray that they can slide through without making the filter a major fighting point…
Secondly – They don’t believe they have the numbers they need to get it through the senate.
The bigger problem is that it probably doesn’t really matter who gets into power, we are likely to see a filter of some sort been pushed down our throats…
Shane
Mike Wilson
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 1:05 PMI don’t believe a filter will be implemented.
1/ It will be a major election issue;
2/ The Public don’t want it;
3/ It will not work (another failed “Think Big” Scheme);
4/ The US is against it;
5/ It puts us (again) in the same camp as China.
Mike
Neophyle
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 4:47 PM> Mike Wilson
>
>I don’t believe a filter will be implemented.
>1/ It will be a major election issue;
In your dreams, pal. As if a geeky little thing like this would *ever* be an election *issue*.
>2/ The Public don’t want it;
The ‘public’ could not care less. And if Conroy says nasty pedophiles are lurking everywhere on the net, then most public would favour destroying all computers and cutting all network cables.
Seriously, it’s only us geeks give a flying f^&%.
3/ It will not work (another failed “Think Big”
It will work. cf China, North Korea, etc. Most people are not uber-geeks like you and I who can change to proxies. Most people barely know how to push the power button on their PCs, and think that turning off their monitors turns off their computers.
4/ The US is against it;
The US *Constitution* is against it. Most right-wing bible-bashers in the US are more censorious than Saudi mullas. It’s just a few rabble-rouser civil libertarians who care. And, as luck would have it, the constitution is on their side. Of course, they also have the right to bear arms. Scary, eh?
5/ It puts us (again) in the same camp as China.
What’s your point? Of course we are. And N. Korea, but we are more extreme than Cuba or Iran.
If it’s politcally popular, then hell, why not throw babies off a ship? Or, at least, when we find out it’s not true, not tell the Australian people. Lock up those millions of little brown people who want to sail here and live the life of Riley.
Get real. In the modern world ‘freedoms’ are as expedient as ‘rights’. Internet censorship *will* come into most Western ‘democracies, sooner rather than later. Yes, smart-arses like you an I will get around it, but we’ll risk fines, imprisonment, etc to do so, and most people will not care. They don’t now. They won’t then.
All we can do is try to manage or limit the damage.
Andrew Mills
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 9:18 PMPersonally, I have watched this government let so many of their promises during the last election fall by the way side, that it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re just planning on slipping it through if they win.
I’d say ‘Vote Liberal’, but their leader was a bloody bible basher not to long ago, I don’t trust him to ensure our freedoms.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. There is no lesser of two evils IMHO.
Nodeity
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 7:39 AMExactly right, it’s just a slimey way to try and avoid getting kicked out next election. I have no doubt it will raise it’s ugly head directly after as a so called, “election mandate”!!
David Crafti
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 8:08 AMTo support a civil liberties party instead of the two manor parties who don’t care about civil liberties, join and vote for Pirate Party Australia. We’ll fight to make sure this censorship program fails.
Jed
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 9:11 AMAlready Did!
Libs and ALP will be at the bottom of my ballot this year
Grant Burton
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 11:34 AMwhy doesnt rudd just admit he was wrong for a change, and leave it in the dust!
Ben Dy
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 2:21 PMFor a change? ETS, Childcare, Solar Power Rebates, Insulation scams, and this.. I’m hoping he gets something RIGHT!
Rob
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 11:35 AMSo what the ALP is saying is that they realise the issue could cost them government if they introduce it prior to any election.
What this means is that if the ALP win the next election, they’ll use the victory to claim a mandate from the people to implement it.
As someone who voted for Kev07 hoping for a better Australia, I’m bitterly disappointed with this latest spin. I still won’t be voting ALP.
Fox
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 10:07 PMDitto all of that Rob. If I had seen this plan rearing its ugly head last time we voted, I wouldn’t even have glanced at Labour. I can only hope that people remember this IS an election issue, whether or not they want us to pay attention…
Will
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 11:37 AMsounds like they are ditching it to me
Nick
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 11:49 AMIf they think that postponing it will give them back my vote, they have another thing coming…
Nick T
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 12:15 PMI’m with you Nick.. until it’s dead and buried, it’s still an election issue. I won’t vote ALP as long as this policy is still breathing.
Stanbeard
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 1:35 PMCareful there! Make no mistake, the Libs will want a filter just as much as Labor if they think it will help them politically.
I’m a disappointed Kevin07 voter too, but I still think Labor’s the lesser of two evils.
matt
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 9:09 PM@Stanbeard:
i’ve always been a bit weary of the “lesser of two evils” type of thinking. I think that’s whats lead to the joke of a situation we have in QLD.
also, ok, so we vote them in, and they are worse.. well, just vote them out at the next one, that will still mean the other party has had 3 years to think about it, and they will fight harder to make sure they don’t get kicked out again. at least there would hopefully be less complacency. could it maybe have been the complete implosion of the liberal party after the last election that left labor feeling a bit complacent during the majority of their term? just my wild thoughts…
I share your worry too though, the libs would want a filter too. we can only hope that they can more clearly see it as political suicide before they commit to it and can’t turn back…
Shane
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 12:21 PMThe problem is, even if they say that they have decided to abandoned the idea, would you honestly believe them?
The ALP has done what they said they would do, then changed their minds seeing that it was simply a bad idea or didn’t have the ability to carry it through…does this new “health care reform” sound anything like they promised? Does it actually sound like anything new at all?? And what about foreign ownership of property??? All that did was make impossible for Australian’s to afford property in their own country?!
I don’t like the libs at the moment, but I as hell wouldn’t trust the ALP as far as I could shoot them into space!
Paul McManus
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 12:48 PMSimple .. introducing this legislation now will be more bad press.
Compare that to today’s news of tax cuts … http://www.smh.com.au/business/rudd-hints-at-tax-cuts-for-australians-20100429-tted.html
Instead, wait till after the election and push it through then when there are no repercussions.
Kif
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 12:57 PMOne word: Darknet.
Benno
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 1:08 PMI am still planning to picket my local voting booth with a placard saying “Censorship for Australia like Burma, North Korea and China will be assured with an ALP government” Or such like. I won’t be happy until the ALP has the same level of relevance as the Australian Democrats. In fact I wish the Democrats were still a significant factor in Australian politics. Come back Natasha we still love you! The main problem now as far as I see it is that Tony, Bible Basher, Abbott is likely to enact similar (if not the same) legislation if elected. I DO NOT like the thought of a pious Christian loon as PM.
Mike
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 10:44 PMProblem with that sentiment mate is K Rudd is already as much of a pious christian loon as you think Abbott is…
There is no way in ones right mind that someone could vote for ALP.. this is the worst government ever..vote libs, greens, ind, but not ALP…
And to be talking about tax cuts with billions of dollars worth of deficits, where is the money coming from?
Sam Brady
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 1:32 PMI wish there were a party that I wanted in government, rather than bigots and incompetents of varying degrees of dislike and distrust. Putting this on the back-burner to prevent losing votes is a stupid idea as it’ll just make it a point for the greens to bring up (fat chance of the nationals or lib’s doing so) and those who consider it important will still consider it when voting. More to a point, those who think its an OK idea wont care too much about it when voting, whilst those who consider the ramifications to be too significant to ignore will still have it in mind.
All the reasons I voted for Labor have dissolved as he’s feebly attempted to ride a wave of manufactured popularity whilst in his actions either ignoring or directly contradicting his stated position before the elections were held. I’ve come accustomed to Rudd’s character and couldn’t stand to have him representing the country, if it weren’t for the racist and homophobic, reactionary and mindless or disorganised and infighting alternatives. Its so bloody disenchanting.
This very action is a perfect example of why I wont vote ALP. They seem to sneak unpopular changes past people and its not the way a government that represents its people is supposed to work. I wish politicians were more motivated to improve the well-being of the nation than to ensure they play the right cards to maintain popularity with the public, who rely on media sensationalism for their opinions on matters they have no stake in.
Kieran
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 1:43 PMhe can’t dump it now.
he’s just shelved the ETS, and the childcare centres he *promised*, not to mention the cancelling of the insulation rollout..
he already has his trifecta, dumping this altogether would make him look even more stupid/gutless.
Ward Paterson
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 2:00 PMFirst ditching the ETS, then child care, now internet filtering… Next thing will be the throwing the paid maternity scheme against the wall, or the National Broadband Network (wasn’t this supposed to be awarded already??)
ALP are all talk and no action. And when they are “action” they sell off QLD assets like candy in a candy store.
FFS WTF is Fking going on these days. ALP can’t run the country if their lives depended on it. Oh and thanks in advance, Mr Krudd, for that 0.25% interest rate hike planned for next…
matt
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 8:58 PMRudd == fail
seriously, I never ever thought I would begin to regret picking him over Howard…
the interest rates are really the final straw.
I’m currently saving for a house, thus higher interest rates are actually good for my savings… now…
but the housing crisis is just a joke, and the constantly rising interest rates is just a desperate act of the one trick pony RBA, because the gov won’t step in and do what actually needs to be done to fix the problems! its rich investors who are pushing up house prices! some of them foreign! who aren’t even relying on Aus loans when foreign interest rates are so low!! how the hell does raising OUR interest rates stop them!? all it hurts are the first home buyers, who have already well and truly ditched the market, and will be struggling more and more with every rise, and the Developers, who can’t get loans to actually SOLVE the supply problem!
Asylum seekers… one little boat of people overpowers the “strength ” of the Rudd gov…
and all the while we have just absolute arrogance coming from them with everyone of their ill informed polices. like completely ignoring the U.S. on this issue… like what would they know about the internet… and even the insulation issue, to me the the least of their failings, I think the everyday greedy, dodgy, opportunistic bastards of Australia are more to blame than the naive government, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t RESPONSIBLE, and to be so arrogant as to not even apologize to the parents of the installers who lost their lives… not even privately…
I thought it would have been a bit unreasonable of me to not vote for them just because of this one issue, no matter how much I’m against it (democracy fail), but after witnessing their performance in general, I’ll have no problems with it now.
as for the QLD gov, well their biggest failings were before the last election, when they squandered all of the massive profits from the resource boom before the crash, I didn’t vote for them then because of this, but now I’m glad they got in, so they have to deal with the mess that they created and they will get properly blamed.
Ross Moir
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 4:02 PMIt’s rubbish like this that makes me want to donkey my next vote.
On one hand we’ve got a gutless wonder that’s too busy looking good and trying to keep everyone happy by throwing money around to actually accomplish anything, on the other you’ve got a religious nutcase who is trying to match rudd’s spin tactics with multiple policies with the substance of a weak gust of wind.
And for your vote to actually count, you feel forced to vote for one of the major parties, who’re all too busy sodomising each other in the capital to actually keep an eye on where they’re steering the country.
Alex
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 6:20 PMThe front page of Daily Mirror after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004 said “How can 59m people be so DUMB?”.
After all the mistakes the ALP has made in such short time (ETS, Childcare, Solar Power Rebates, Insulation, stimulus payment to deceased and people leaving overseas, education revolution and most likely with the health), if they win again someone will say the same thing about us.
I won’t be voting ALP.
Dax
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 4:01 AMAustralia now finds itself in the same position the UK did in 97, they voted out the Tories for a bunch of self serving Idiots, whose smiling leader Blair was promising a New Britain, better for the country, better for working families, tough on Imigration, would not be bullied by the unions etc (sound familiar Kev07). 10 years later the backlash against “New Labour” is finally here, look at the state of a once proud nation being bullied left right and centre from everyone just trying to be popular. I hope it doesn’t take 10 years for Australia to be in the same boat. What we need is someone that formulates policy on need, not on populist crap, or to win votes for a pet project to satisfy a small marginal faction (Family first), I have filtered my internet at home to protect my kids from the dark side of the web, I educated my kids on their resposibility when using the computer, I layed down the ground rules, they know that I monitor their accounts and they know the consequences of breaking the rules.
I am not an IT pro but I learnt how to do this, It is not the governments place to tell me what I can/ cannot do in my house, I do not want to be part of a nanny state.
We as parents should be active in ensuring that the material our kids view is age appropriate, and not use computers or TV’s as babysitters.
So Conroy, Fielding, Rudd and Abbott do not think that we the people will sit back and let you control what we do and see on the internet just because it clashes with your opinion, freedom of speech, freedom to form our own opinions, freedom to vote you in or out as we see fit.
Don’t forget it is us that put in that place of trust, DO NOT ABUSE THE PRIVELIDGE WE HAVE BESTOWED UPON YOU.
gargravarr
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 4:36 AMWhat a shock! Politicians talk a good game, but winning elections takes priority over what they think is “right” once we get close to the day.
glennc
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 9:24 AMpolitics is broken, always has been. our whole system is a joke. this just proves it, the name of the game is votes votes votes. somewhere along the line i dropped of the electoral roll and couldn’t be happier.
James-Mac
Friday, April 30, 2010 at 1:05 PMAside from technology blogs, has anyone seen the filter mentioned anywhere in the mainstream media?
It can’t really be an election issue if no one knows about it.
That said, the moment they are re-elected and they announce it… I’m picketing their offices and letter dropping my local news outlets.
Fred
Friday, July 30, 2010 at 3:11 AMConroy is a pompous little zealot with no understanding of how the internet works, and he’s ensured that I won’t be voting Labor this time around.