Conroy confirms receipt of internet filtering report

Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam today confirmed that Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has taken receipt of his ISP-level filtering report, but was yet to release it.

Earlier this month Opposition communications spokesman Nick Minchin called upon Stephen Conroy to publish the delayed results of the government's mandatory internet filtering trials.

"Almost two years after coming to office with a plan to censor the Internet, Senator Conroy has not even managed to release results for long overdue filtering trials, let alone come close to actually implementing this highly controversial policy," Minchin said.

Senator Conroy previously said he would receive the ISP-level filtering results sometime in September.

"We had hoped to have the final report by now but because of the staggered way ISPs came into the trial, we expect to get the report in the next six to eight weeks," he told iTnews in July.

In Parliament today Senator Ludlam asked whether the government had received the filtering report, commissioned by Enex Testlab, and why it hadn't been released.

"The live pilot trial into ISP-level filtering has recently been completed," Senator Conroy said.

He explained how his department would release it shortly.

"The report has not yet been finalised but I have undertaken and repeat that commitment to release it in due course," he said.

He also addressed concern about the potential influence for politicians in blocking material they might push to be censored.

"As I indicated at [Senate] Estimates, I have been in discussion with some in the industry about an enhanced practical measure to ensure confidence that a government minister or a government bureaucrat is not the sole arbiter. There have been a number of options floated," he said.

"The Classification Board may consider all of the items that are ... to be classified.

"An industry-based body may also be an option, where an industry body with the government agency involved could go through and examine [refused classification material]. That's one of the options I'm considering. Another being a parliamentary committee [that] can also examine the classification process.

"There are a number of options that the government is generally considering," he said.