Good News and Bad News
We have just made available, on the ALIA web site, the responses of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Coalition, to the questions we asked them. There is good news and bad news, and this is a personal approach to just one aspect of the statements, and some other recent policy statements - the free flow of information, the heart of who we are.
The ALP has said two things about the free flow of information. On one hand, on 26 October the ALP made what looks like a very strong commitment to open government. As reported in The Australian under the heading “Free Speech”, Labor has promised to
- abolish conclusive cerificates (by which a minister may avoid release of information by declaring that it is not in the public interest)
- appoint an Information Commissioner, which would be an independent statutory office
- provide better protection to journalists who refuse to name their sources
- abolish the fee for appealing a decision of government
- reform whistleblowers’ legislation
- work with the states to prevent court suppression orders being abused
The policy was praised by the Right to Know coalition, which represents Australia’s large media organisations and is campaigning on issues of freedom of the press and the public’s access to information.
On the other hand, the ALP has a very strong pro-filtering stance, and its statement on the ALIA website demonstrates this. In a reply to a question by ALIA about their position on Internet filtering and libraries, the ALP said “ISP filtering under a Rudd Labor government will be applied to all households (unless they choose to opt-out), schools and public internet points accessible by children, such as libraries.”
What will ISPs (internet service providers) be obliged to filter? It does appear from Kim Beazley’s original statement in March 2006 that ISPs will be obliged to filter out some material which it is legal to view, and it appears that they will take instructions on what to filter from ACMA (the Australian Communications and Media Authority). There are other problems with the policy, too, and many are highlighted in the interesting 36-page critique by EFA (Electronic Frontiers Australia).
What does the Coalition say on these issues? In response to the ALIA questionnaire, they pointed to the Prime Minister’s announcement on 20 August 2007 of the $189 million Protecting Australian Families Online initiative. The statement on filtering in libraries was much more nuanced. At this stage the Coalition is not in favour of ISP-level filtering, and it is suggested that “The use of filters in libraries needs to be tailored to the circumstances and client profiles of different libraries . . .” Moreover, while libraries are encouraged to work with the Government to install PC-based filters, it is recognised that “legislating the use of content filters by librarians would be a blunt approach that would not be effective, particularly as the regulation of public libraries is generally a matter for state, territory and local governments.”
On the issue of media freedom and the free flow of information, we await a formal statement from the Coalition. There was an interesting piece in Crikey.com on the topic, pointing out some indications of reforms which may possibly be proposed by the Coalition as the election campaign unfolds. Or not, as the case may be.
There is lots more in the statements of the two parties, and others will no doubt take them up in this blog.