[ManchestrMorgue]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

And this from the same government who galvanized its citizens to over-procreate, "Have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country!" From the same utopic haven of universal healthcare and social services that encourage single parents to stay in and get knocked up rather than go out and work?!

It's actually a different government - we had a change of party late last year.

Perhaps though these sorts of censorship policies are really not at odds with universal healthcare and social services for single parents. I mean, these other policies create dependency on the government rather than on oneself. And if you are dependent on something you are more likely to accept being controlled/told what to do by it.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

honestly have a difficult time believing that this is going to pass. I feel as though this is something that will be discussed (political extremists going for the very ends of the pole)... I feel as though this will be tossed around and then turned down. Australia has enough social consciousness so as not to impede basic human freedoms, of which this definitely is one.

I really hope that is true. But this issue has been re-emerging for at least the last 2 or 3 years (from both parties). The previous party (a conservative party, more like your Republicans but not exactly the same) investigated mandatory ISP level filtering but were advised that it would slow down the internet unacceptably and so ditched the plan and instead provided free filtering software to everyone.
However they still did blacklist some sites/newsgroups, and it is illegal for people to be told exactly what was being blacklisted.

So it is really a much more extreme version of what we already have - ie government censorship of the internet.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Then again, I'm just an American. What do I know? :p We have the Fist Amendment that the bleeding heart liberals simply LOVE to hide behind and wave in the faces of the fascist extremists... Do you guys have anything like that?

That would be an interesting Amendment, but alas is exactly what the government is trying to block.

If, however, you mean the First Amendment - no, we don't have anything like that. We have no Bill of Rights.

Constitutionally, our government can do this to us. Whether they will or not is yet to be seen.

Interestingly, over the last few days this issue has been reported in most of our major papers (and some international press - eg the BBC). This I think is the best thing that can happen. I don't trust the Australian public to strongly oppose the erosion of our liberties - Australians in my experience tend to be much more easily convinced by political rhetoric than Americans. You guys seem to be a lot more cynical (which in many cases is a good thing when dealing with governments). I fear that Australians will fall for the line that this is to save children and stop perverts; and will be welcomed as such.