CCL condemns government's internet censorship

"The censorship of lawful speech on the Internet is a violation of the right of every Australian to read, see and hear whatever they want”, said NSWCCL President, Mr Cameron Murphy.

"CCL agrees with the government that children need to be protected from unsuitable content online. But censorship of Australian webservers fails to achieve this goal, because children are left exposed to unsuitable content hosted overseas.

“According to a recent US court decision, the only proven and effective way to protect children is to install child-protection internet filters on their PCs.

“If child-protection filters are used on home and school PCs, then there's no need to censor Australian websites. If filters are widely used, then banning and restricting free speech on the Internet is unnecessary.

“Because this censorship is an unnecessary restriction on freedom of speech, it violates Australia’s international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

“The government should be repealing this unnecessary censorship regime, not expanding it. Restricting MA15+ content to adults makes no sense when anyone can watch MA15+ movies on free-to-air television”, Mr Murphy said.

“CCL is also concerned that the proposed new laws create an army of unaccountable private censors who will dictate what Australians can and can’t see on the Internet. It is the role of the Office of Film and Literature Classification – not private consultants – to classify content."