Despite the struggle for the mandatory internet filter to win enough votes in the Senate, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has refused to give up on the policy, saying “the internet filter is appropriate.”
"It is unlawful for me to go to the cinema and watch some certain sorts of content. That's unlawful; we believe it to be wrong," Ms Gillard told the Queensland Media Club in Brisbane on Tuesday.
"Content that is child abuse, incredibly violent pornography, we say that is wrong and we don't show it in Australian cinemas.
"If we accept that, then it seems to me the moral question is not changed by the medium that the image has come through."
Ms Gillard said the Labor government will be refining the mandatory internet filter so that internet connections don’t slow down, and content which is legal is not banned.
Tech websites and blogs have lashed out at Labor’s proposed mandatory filter, and both the Coalition and the Greens have vowed to vote against it.
The mandatory internet filter seeks to block content which the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) deems to be refused classification. In theory this would include child pornography, bestiality, sexual violence, violence and drug use. Illegal content would be blocked by all Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
