It seems that no matter how many FTW’s Senator Ludlam drops in his press releases, the Labor government is like a stubborn mule when it comes to filtering the Internet. Or, perhaps a more apt simile is a stubborn ass. PM Julia Gillard told an audience at the Queensland Media Club in Brisbane that implementing the filter is a “moral question”.
When asked by a student why pushing through filter legislation is in the country’s best interest when the policy has a 90% disapproval rating, Gillard responded:
My fundamental outlook is this – it unlawful for me, as an adult, to go to cinema and watch certain sorts of content. That’s unlawful, we believe it to be wrong – you know, content that is child abuse, incredibly violent pornography. We say that’s wrong and we don’t show it in Australian cinemas. That’s unlawful and we all accept it.
If we accept that, then it seems to me the moral question is not changed by the medium that the images come through, so if I cannot properly go and view such things in a cinema, and certainly I don’t want to, but if no-one in this country can lawfully go and view such things in a cinema then I don’t believe it should be lawful to view such things over the internet, and in those circumstance I think the internet filter is appropriate.
So, it’s the same old bullshit rhetoric about child porn, and completely fails to address the issue of RC content that isn’t actually illegal. At this point in time though, there’s not too much to worry about with both the Libs and the Greens stating they’ll block the legislation in the senate. We just wish the government would open its eyes to the stupidity of its endeavours.