Five Questions About The Coalition Policy Backflip Giz Wants Answered

So hey Coalition, you declared that a Liberal/National government if elected would introduce a compulsory opt-out internet filter, and then about three hours later decided that actually, no, it wouldn’t. Confusing, we find. Voters interested in tech issues deserve to have some questions answered. Specifically:

  1. If , as the retraction statement claims, an opt-out filter is “not our policy and never has been”, how come there were 300 words describing such a policy ready to go in the document? Where did you find them? Someone wrote those words; who was it?
  2. If this has “never been policy”, why exactly did MP Paul Fletcher, who often speaks about broadband issues, tell one tech site quite unequivocally that the Coalition would work with industry to develop such a policy
  3. You’ve been claiming for some months that the Coalition has been “ready for a long time”. If that’s the case, how come Malcolm Turnbull says he didn’t read it until late this afternoon, and thus went on JJJ and explained a policy the party now says it never had?
  4. The original policy document set aside $10 million for developing cyber-safety policy, but now you have ditched a big chunk of it. Does that mean the policy development will be cheaper, or did you not check the sums in the document or in the budget?
  5. Opposition leader Tony Abbott said the incorrect policy had a “lack of clarity” and was due to “quality control”. It seemed quite clear what it actually meant. But in any event, how can we be sure this lack of “quality control” doesn’t also apply to those allegedly bulletproof Coalition NBN plans? You know, the ones you haven’t issued costings for?

The election is on Saturday, as you know, Tony, so we haven’t got a lot of time. If you or Malcolm or Paul could actually answer those questions ASAP, that’d be great. We’d like to be able to make an informed decision, but there is still a big “lack of clarity” here. Thanks, Gizmodo

Picture: Getty Images


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