Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the government’s belated response to Labor’s plan to protect Australian children from internet pornography. Why does the government continue to refuse to adopt Labor’s clean-feed policy that would block internet porn at the ISP level? Why does the Prime Minister continue to ignore the views of the Australian Families Association and 62 members of his own backbench by refusing to block pornography at the source? Why won’t the government swallow its pride and put the interests of Australian children ahead of its political interests and adopt Labor’s clean-feed policy?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In reply to the Leader of the Opposition’s question, I would have thought protection of Australian children was not only an absolute priority but also in the political interests of all political parties. I do not think it is exclusively in the interests of my party any more than it ought to be in the interests of the Australian Labor Party. The reason we have adopted the policy outlined yesterday by the Minister for Communications, Information Economy and the Arts is that it achieves the goals of providing protection for Australian children without imposing the unreasonable restrictions and cost burdens of the Labor Party’s policy.