Introduction
Australia maintains some of the most restrictive
Internet policies of any Western nation, while its
neighbor, New Zealand, is less rigorous in its
Internet regulation. Without any explicit protection
of free speech in its constitution, 1 the Australian
government has used its “communications
power” delineated in the constitution to regulate
the availability of offensive content online, 2
endowing a government entity with the power to
issue take-down notices for Internet content hosted within the country. A number of state and territorial governments in Australia have also
passed legislation making the distribution of
offensive material a criminal offense, as the constitution does not afford that power to the national government. 3
The Australian government also promotes
and finances an “opt-in” filtering program, in
which Internet users voluntarily accept filtering
software that blocks offensive content hosted
outside of the country. At present there are no
plans for a countrywide Internet service provider
(ISP)-level filtering regime, though Australia’s
handling of hate speech, copyright, defamation,
and security signals the government’s desire to
increase the scope of its Internet regulation.
New Zealand by contrast is less strict in its
Internet regulation. The government maintains a
more limited definition of offensive content that
can be investigated by a designated government
entity, although—unlike in Australia—the definition includes hate speech (despite it being illegal
in both countries). Furthermore, the government
has not passed legislation to allow issuance of
takedown notices for such content and its
enforcement of Internet content regulation by
prosecution almost solely focuses on child
pornography. Although New Zealand Internet
copyright policies have not yet been formalized,
its defamation and security policies are fairly similar to Australia’s.
Overall, however, Australia maintains a
stricter regime of Internet censorship and regulation than New Zealand and much of the Western
world, though not at the level of the more repressive governments that ONI has studied.
Internet Filtering in
Internet Filtering in
Australia and New Zealand
Australia maintains some of the most restrictive
Internet policies of any Western nation, while its
neighbor, New Zealand, is less rigorous in its
Internet regulation. Without any explicit protection
of free speech in its constitution, 1 the Australian
government has used its “communications
power” delineated in the constitution to regulate
the availability of offensive content online, 2
endowing a government entity with the power to
issue take-down notices for Internet content hosted within the country. A number of state and territorial governments in Australia have also
passed legislation making the distribution of
offensive material a criminal offense, as the constitution does not afford that power to the national government. 3
The Australian government also promotes
and finances an “opt-in” filtering program, in
which Internet users voluntarily accept filtering
software that blocks offensive content hosted
outside of the country. At present there are no
plans for a countrywide Internet service provider
(ISP)-level filtering regime, though Australia’s
handling of hate speech, copyright, defamation,
and security signals the government’s desire to
increase the scope of its Internet regulation.
New Zealand by contrast is less strict in its
Internet regulation. The government maintains a
more limited definition of offensive content that
can be investigated by a designated government
entity, although—unlike in Australia—the definition includes hate speech (despite it being illegal
in both countries). Furthermore, the government
has not passed legislation to allow issuance of
takedown notices for such content and its
enforcement of Internet content regulation by
prosecution almost solely focuses on child
pornography. Although New Zealand Internet
copyright policies have not yet been formalized,
its defamation and security policies are fairly similar to Australia’s.
Overall, however, Australia maintains a
stricter regime of Internet censorship and regulation than New Zealand and much of the Western
world, though not at the level of the more repressive governments that ONI has studied.
Internet Filtering in
Internet Filtering in
Australia and New Zealand