Congratulations to ABC Radio National for this evening presenting perhaps the most well constructed and controlled debate on the proposed internet filter in this country so far. I’ll have more to say once the audio is available to download, and I am able to dissect it more closely.
| ABC Radio National: Australia Talks |
However, I cannot help but think that this whole debate simply is not getting in front of the right audience. It is all well and good to blog about it, tweet about it, and talk about it on Radio National until we go blue in the face – the message is not getting through.
With all due respect to Radio National, a program that goes to air nationally at 6pm on the east coast, when families are sitting down to meals, or in many cases just getting home – is just not going to hit the audience we need to hit.
Conroy continually preaches his line to the lowest common denominator in this debate. “It’s all about kiddie porn” he says – when we know that it’s a great deal more than that.
That, however, is his masterstroke. He knows that we know, but he also knows that the average Joe Bloggs on the street does NOT know! So when they hear the “blocking kiddie porn” spiel, they think – “hey, that’s a bloody good idea!”
The average Joe Bloggs on the street is not listening to Radio National at 6pm on a Monday night. This debate needs to go mainstream.
By that I mean a huge televised public debate on a national commercial television network. Where everybody knows about it, so everyone has the chance to watch it.
It needs a real host. A host with balls; who isn’t going to shirk at pushing the big questions at the minister. If he’s going to inflict this upon us, he at least needs to be made to squirm a bit before he waltzes in and destroys what we have made the internet to be. Kevin Rudd needs to be there too – so he can see the mess that he and Conroy have created between them.
If we are not scared of this debate, lets stand up and show it. Conroy is obviously scared of the facts, because he always ignores them and rolls out the “this filter is 100% accurate” line.
Well, Mr Conroy, it’s only 100% accurate if people aren’t circumventing it! Then it’s 100% useless, and you’ve wasted 100% of our tax dollars allocated to it. That is 100% accurate!
Here’s another thing that is 100% accurate. Only 43.38% of the national popular vote went the way of the Labor Party in the 2007 federal election. Less than half of the voters in this country wanted you as a first choice government!
| First Preferences by Party – Federal Election 2007 |
This needs to be PRIMETIME. This is an issue that concerns every Australian, so it’s time every Australian is made aware of it – so when it comes time for the next federal election, they don’t forget.