Marcus

Given the importance the government has attached to updating Australia's national broadband network to meet standards such as those in the United States and the United Kingdom (I remind you they do not have a totalitarian style internet filtering system in place). Pursuing this filtering system is at best misguided. Considering the national network could be slowed by up to 70 percent, coupled with the global economic financial situation that is gripping Australia this would be like turning off the electricity because people grow marijuana with it. Australian households are diverse and the majority do not have young children or people who are determined to go against society by breaking the law and looking at illegal images or documents on the World Wide Web. I do not believe it is the Government’s role to decide what is or is not appropriate for me, or my future children, and neither does most of Australia.

Given the poor and in-effective filtering system in state schools that often hampers the studying efforts of students, rather than focus their attention on school work; I believe this national filtering system will be just as hopeless at filtering out material dubbed illegal and further intrude on the liberties and freedoms of this democracy. By keeping the list of banned sites (any that are dubbed illegal) away from the public it is impossible for you to guarantee that freedom of speech will not take a hit. I believe that the money which might be squandered invading our liberties could be far more useful improving the neglected schools or improving infrastructure with Transrapid rail lines that could potentially provide a huge boost to transportation and the national economy.

Therefore I believe we should not follow in the footsteps of China and Korea, who filter their citizen’s internet. I believe it to be in the best interests of the Australian public to focus on employing the money in special task force's whose soul purpose would be to trace those who view and create child pornography.