Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. I refer to the minister’s call for expressions of interest by 8 December to conduct live ISP level internet-filtering trials, preferably starting before 24 December. I ask: how many customers would an ISP need to enlist for a trial to be credible, and will the results be independently examined and verified?

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

I thank Senator Bernardi for that question. I think he was one of the senators who signed a letter previously supporting the proposal for ISP based filtering, as did, apparently, 78 of those in the opposition. It was a letter on ISP filtering organised by Senator Barnett.

The government is committed to taking an evidence based approach to ISP level internet filtering. On 10 November I released an expression of interest document seeking the participation of ISPs and mobile telephone providers in a live pilot. The application process for the EOI, as you mentioned, closes on 8 December. The pilot may begin before the end of 2008 and conclude in the first half of 2009. Despite the claims that it is going to be rushed through Christmas, Senator Bernardi, I can assure you that that is not the case.

Participation by ISPs in the live pilot is voluntary. The pilot will test the potential impacts of filtering technologies on internet speeds, the accuracy of filters, the circumvention costs and customer experiences in a real-world environment. The pilot represents an ideal opportunity to assess concerns that industry and the public may have about ISP filtering. A range of filtering solutions will be tested, including, at a minimum, filtering of the ACMA black list of prohibited internet content, largely child pornography. The pilot will provide evidence to assist the government with the implementation of its ISP filtering policy. I encourage all ISPs to come forward— (Time expired)

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I note that the minister failed miserably to answer that question, which was specifically about the number of people needed for a trial to be credible. I also note that in the expression of interest documents the second stream of the trial includes a filtering of other unwanted content. I ask the minister: has this unwanted content been identified, and by whom?

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

I again thank Senator Bernardi for the question. At this stage you are attempting to put the horse before the cart. What we are doing is engaging in a process with a very targeted list at the moment. The list could contain 10,000 potentials. When you look around the world at Interpol, the FBI, Europol and other law enforcement agencies and you look at the size of the lists that they are actually using at the moment, 1,300 would not be sufficient to cover the URLs that we would have supplied to us with the purpose of blocking. So let me be clear about this: the pilot will seek to test network performance against a test list of approximately 10,000 sites— (Time expired)

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Based on the minister’s answer, I would suggest that there is more than a horse and cart involved; there is probably a donkey as well.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Bernardi, resume your seat. I am waiting for silence.

Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask the minister: considering the stage of trialling filters for his mandatory ISP-level filtering policy is only just beginning, why is he closing the coalition government’s free, personal computer level internet filter scheme on 31 December before having any alternative in place to assist families with online safety?

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

I assure Senator Bernardi that if he wants to grab hold of what was possibly the single largest lemon of a policy implemented by the previous government, he is welcome to it. This is a policy which saw mass mail-outs, advertising on television and millions of dollars of wasted taxpayers’ money that led to an extraordinarily small usage—I am happy to get him the exact figure; possibly two per cent are still using it after all of the blather from those opposite. This was a monumental failure of a policy. But let me be clear: for those who are currently using it, the support mechanisms are in place and go on. We will be taking no new applications. That is an accurate description of what is actually happening. (Time expired)