On ABC’s Q&A program last night, the Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott indicated that he was not yet convinced that the Government’s plan to filter the Internet would be effective. However, he did not commit the Liberal Party to opposing the policy in the Parliament. The Australian provides this recap:

OPPOSITION leader Tony Abbott says there is insufficient evidence ISP filtering is effective enough to warrant his full support.

Mr Abbott hasn’t been convinced internet filtering can really trap net nasties as there was no substantial technical evidence.

“We certainly haven’t seen the kind of technical assurances that we’d need so let’s wait and see how this thing develops,” he said in response to a question on ABC TV’s Q&A program last night.

“I want to see protections in place. I don’t want to see our kids exposed to really terrible stuff on the internet. On the other hand I don’t want to see the internet destroyed by a filtering system that won’t work so I guess for me it’s a factual issue.

“Can you have a filtering system that is effective, that doesn’t lull parents into a false sense of security and which doesn’t in the process make the internet ineffective as the kind of marvellous research tool and educational device that it is?

“I don’t know at the moment … I just don’t know,” Mr Abbott said.

Read more here.  We need your help to persuade the Liberal Party to oppose this impractical and costly policy of Government censorship of the Internet.  Please visit follow the steps on this page and take the time to Lobby a Lib.

You might also want to contact the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, directly.

You can call Tony Abbott’s office on (02) 9977 6411.

Or you can send him an email at [email protected].

Or you can write to him at:

The Hon Tony Abbott

PO Box 450

Manly NSW 2095

Please take the time to Lobby a Lib because probably our best chance to stop the filter from ever becoming law, is to convince the Liberal Party to vote against it in the Senate.