Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank senators for their contribution to this debate. I would also like to record my thanks to key industry stakeholders for their valuable contributions towards the development of this important legislation.

The development of a comprehensive and practical content regulation framework is a significant challenge, as speakers have noted, in an era of convergence and new emerging technologies and services. The introduction of new services like 3G and video services through mobile phones means that our platform-specific regulations are becoming increasingly strained as they are applied to new media forms. The Communications Legislation Amendment (Content Services) Bill 2007 will extend the current safeguards that apply to content delivered over the internet or television to content delivered over convergent devices, including live, streamed services. Content rated X18+ and content which is refused classification will be prohibited. Content classified as R18+ must be provided with appropriate access restrictions to limit the availability of this material to adults. Material made available on a commercial basis for a fee and which is classified as MA15+ must also be provided with age restrictions.

The new legislation will also regulate the online distribution of electronic editions of print publications. Material which has been classified restricted category 1 or restricted category 2 or refused classification will be prohibited—for example, adult magazines currently available in some newsagents and adult shops. Mechanisms will be established to enable the regulator to take action to direct material be taken down or access removed where it is provided in contravention of the rule. Strong sanctions will be introduced for noncompliance, including criminal and civil penalties.

Under this bill the government will also allow for industry coregulation as a means of providing for regulatory frameworks to evolve and adapt with the technologies and services which they regulate. We believe that the content services bill has struck the right balance between protecting children from harmful and inappropriate content, which of course we wholeheartedly support, whilst also allowing industry to develop new business models and utilise emerging technologies. The proposed legislation will form an important part of the government’s suite of initiatives designed to regulate online content and provide greater protection for children using new technologies.

The government opposes Labor’s second reading amendment, and it is appropriate that I place on record why. In terms of the issues raised in the amendment, first, the government has worked closely with all key stakeholders in the development of this legislation, including content developers. An exposure draft of the bill was circulated to key industry stakeholders in late November 2006 and provided a wide range of interested parties with an opportunity to comment. That has included content developers and suppliers, mobile phone companies, broadcasters and major internet portal operators and publishers. The process was subsequently extended into early ’07. Significant modifications were made to the initial draft of the bill to take account of the responses received from key industry stakeholders. A number of these issues have also been the subject of further discussions between the government and key stakeholders. The amendments to the content services bill which I will be seeking to move are designed to address technical matters that have been identified by the Senate committee in its report and to some extent by industry stakeholders.

The issue that I want to address that Senator Conroy went into some detail on was the prevention of access to prohibited material from offshore providers. The bill provides new safeguards to protect consumers from inappropriate or harmful material on convergence devices, such as 3G mobile phones, and services available via subscription internet portals. It will achieve this by extending the existing regulatory framework to regulate live, streamed content services, services which provide links to content, and include stronger obligations where these services are provided as commercial content services.

In the case of overseas content and services, the Australian government has limited jurisdiction, but there a number of measures that can be applied in such circumstances. The Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, is able to place on a blacklist the details of the locations—that is, the URLs—of prohibited content from offshore sites which it provides to the makers of certain internet content filters to block access. ACMA must also, if it considers the content is of a sufficiently serious nature, such as pornographic material involving children, refer the issue to the Australian Federal Police. ACMA and the AFP have also formally agreed that, where possible, ACMA should refer prohibited content hosted overseas to the international Association of Internet Hotline Providers, an association of 29 accredited internet hotlines from 26 countries in Europe, Asia and North America.

Further, the AFP’s Online Child Sex Exploitation Team, which was launched in March 2005, was created to provide the AFP with national assessment and coordination capability for internet and national referrals of child pornography. The clean-feed system has a number of defects, which I have gone into before. So for all of those reasons, and because of its limitations, it would not have, for instance, exposed the appalling case that came to attention yesterday, and we do not think it is appropriate to adopt it as a commercial or a government proposition. For those reasons, we will be opposing the second reading amendment.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that consideration of this bill in Committee of the Whole be made an order of the day for a later hour.