Aussie opposition will scrap firewall

Joe Hockey, shadow treasurer, has told Australian radio that the Liberal Party will oppose the Australian government's planned compulsory net filter.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy has staked his reputation on blocking content from the internet which would be censored if it were a film for cinema release. The government announced a review of the contentious plan last month.

Hockey said his party would not support the policy. "We believe the internet filter will not work and we believe its a flawed policy. It is not going to capture a whole lot of images and chatter that we all find offensive... that are going through email."

He told ABC's Hack show that he was in favour of technologies which give parents more control and promised a more detailed announcement soon.

Hockey added: "I know it's a contentious issue but the filter does not work, it does not work. The ISP-based filter system does not work. Therefore it creates an assumption of trust which cannot be met by the technology."

Colin Jacobs of Electronic Freedom Australia welcomed the move. He said: "We applaud Mr Hockey's announcement that the Liberal Party will vote against Labor's filter. The Opposition are very welcome among the ranks of those many organisations and individuals that see the filter as a policy failure."

There's an MP3 of Hockey's interview here. ®