Readers will note that Western democracies that do have voluntary ISP-level filtering regimes restrict such filtering to child abuse material which is strictly illegal to download, view or possess.

The Australian Government's plan is quite different. Although the Refused Classification category does include material that is illegal to download, view or possess, it is actually a much broader category than that. According to the National Classification Code content items can be classified as Refused Classification if they:

"describe, depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults (ed: as assessed by the Classification Board) to the extent that they should not be classified".

Senator Conroy has admitted in Parliament that much such material is not, in fact, illegal to own, view or read. For example: the film "Ken Park" has been refused classification in Australia even though adults of other Western democracies are able to watch this film in the cinema, if they so choose.

The Government cannot, in fact, demonstrate that any comparable Western democracy attempts to filter material which is not strictly illegal to download, view or possess.