Media Statement - 19th November 2007
Federal Labor will provide ISP (Internet Service Provider) filtering for all Australian homes, schools and public computers – under its Cyber-Safety policy announced today.
This follows the recent high profile case of a 16 year-old student, Tom Wood who was able to bypass the Federal Government’s $84 million PC filters in a mere 30 minutes.
Federal Labor supports Government initiatives to combat online threats, and believes that governments must do all they can to protect children from inappropriate material on the internet.
The Howard Government has become complacent and its Internet safety policies are inadequate. As the online world evolves, government policy must be responsive.
Our children also need to be better equipped to deal with emerging online threats, such as cyber-bullying, invasion of privacy, and computer addiction.
Federal Labor will improve existing government programs in this area by:
- Providing a mandatory ‘clean feed’ internet service for all homes, schools and public computers that are used by Australian children, so that ISPs will filter out content identified as prohibited by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). The ACMA ‘blacklist’ will also be made more comprehensive to ensure that children are protected from harmful and inappropriate online material;
- Providing children with age-appropriate online cyber-safety resources and making sure teachers are skilled in cyber-safety;
- Establishing a Youth Advisory Group (YAG) to ensure that the Government is kept up-to-date with issues that affect children online;
- Undertaking further research into cyber-safety issues in Australia to determine where best to target future policy and funding in this area; and
- Establishing a permanent Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee to investigate and report on cyber-safety in Australia.
A Rudd Labor Government will transform cyber-safety in Australia by providing Australian children, teachers and parents with a first-class cyber-safety education and by providing new forums in which cyber-safety issues will be raised and addressed.