Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question and further thank him for providing me with notice of the question. The government’s ISP filtering policy is one component of the government’s comprehensive, $125.8 million cyber-safety plan. This plan contains a comprehensive set of measures to combat online threats and help parents and educators protect children from inappropriate material. I can assure the senator that the government will implement the ISP filtering component of this policy in a considered and consultative way. We are aware of technical concerns with filtering technology. That is why we are conducting a pilot—to put these claims to the test. We are happy to have an open debate about these technical issues.

ISPs in a number of Western countries, such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France and Canada, have voluntarily introduced ISP-level filtering. The government is of course considering the experience of these countries in the development of its own policy. This international experience will also inform the government’s upcoming real-world live pilot.

On 10 November I released an expression of interest, seeking the participation of ISPs and mobile telephone operators in this live pilot. The pilot will specifically test filtering against the ACMA black list of prohibited internet content, which is mostly child pornography, as well as filtering of other unwanted content. While the ACMA black list is currently around 1,300 URLs, the pilot will test against this list as well as filtering for a range of URLs to around 10,000 so that the impacts on network performance of a larger black list can be examined. The live pilot will provide valuable real-world evidence of the potential impact on internet speeds and costs to industry and will help ensure we implement a filtering solution that is efficient, effective and easy for Australian families to use.

The pilot is intended to take a very flexible approach and will cover a range of different ISPs and types of connections. The technical testing framework for the pilot indicates that a range of speeds will be tested, based on what most households can currently access. This range is not a hard and fast limit. Some people currently have connections above 12 meg and the framework notes that consideration will also be given to testing performances above 12 meg. Should an ISP wish to extend the pilot above 12 meg, they are invited to state this in their expression of interest. The technical testing framework also notes that costs, including upfront costs to acquire and implement the technology and costs to maintain the ISP-filtering solutions will be examined during the pilot. The costs are expected to vary, depending on the size and complexity of the ISP, the type of filtering solution chosen and the manner in which filtering is deployed by the ISP. The pilot is an opportunity for the Australian industry to now come forward and engage directly with the Australian government in the development of ISP filtering. I strongly urge industry to become involved. As I said earlier, the government intends to take a consultative— (Time expired)