Danny Yee >> Internet Censorship in Australia

State Censorship

In Australia censorship is the province of the states. The Federal government has powers over telecommunications, but only the states can directly regulate controls on speech or access by individuals.

The 1999 Federal Net censorship legislation (which covers ISPs and content hosts) was meant to be accompanied by uniform national legislation by the states covering content publishers... In November 2000 South Australia announced that it would be implementing such legislation (details from EFA) and in November 2001 NSW followed suit (details from EFA).

The gist of this is criminal penalties for anyone publishing material which is or would be R-rated under film classification guidelines. That includes material with "adult themes" such as suicide and marital difficulties...

Back in 1996 the NSW state government proposed legislation and we marched on Parliament House to protest. This was intended as a draft of uniform national legislation.

Internet Censorship in Australia << Danny Yee