CraigT

I'm glad to see that the greater use of online consultation by the Australian government, mirroring the efforts of other governments around the world. I will be commenting regularly to this blog and wanted in my first comment to get several topics out of the way. I oppose the filtering regime under consideration by the Australian government. As the parent of two children, my focus is on educating them to understand and avoid the dangers online - as I educate them on the dangers in the real world. Censoring the internet is a poor and ineffective way of addressing the challenges of child exploitation or distribution of illegal content. Direct action against deveopers and consumers of illegal content and education of the community are far more cost-effective long-term solutions. Australia is at risk of becoming a globally laughing stock (specifically Minister Conroy and his department) due to the approach under consideration. I also question the capacity for the government to judge 'appropriateness' in rapid timeframes in order to list or delist material according to current community values. The Australian government needs to stop imposing an artificial distinction between 'digital economy' and the overall economy. We have a single economy which involves a set of different input and output channels. It is as inappropriate as it would be in the early 20th century to create a distinction between the 'telephone economy' and the real economy as telephony became widespread in businesses and homes. The internet is another channel and platform for the creation, distribution and promotion of products and services and for broadening and deepening human relationships. While the prevalence and extent of the internet facilitates many innovations, at its core it is a mechanism enabling interactions between humans, businesses, governments and information. Creating an artificial divide, 'siloing' the internet into a box, may make it easier for centralised silo-based organisations such as many government departments to fit the internet into their way of doing business, however it does not reflect the actual way in which the internet is transforming society. What needs to occur is a change in business practices, not attempts to fit the internet into existing practices in government. Most importantly, despite the use of a sub-standard tool for this blog, I commend the Minister and Department for taking this step to trial online consultation. The internet, as a mass medium, provides significant benefits for government in understanding community needs and interests, engaging with individuals and organisations to proactively create and modify policy, drive service delivery and create more widespread conversation. I strongly recommend that the Department review the new UK movie, US Now, on the topic of how the internet is shaping public engagement (www.usnowfilm.com). I also recommend that the government engage widely with online experts in Australia from the public and private sector. This will aid in improving the understanding of the senior public service and ministerial staff on how to best incorporate internet-based approaches into government activities and initiatives. I look forward to more posts from the Department in order to provide constructive feedback on the discussion.