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GAY MARRIAGE: ACT goes for it, French reject it Pages 2&3
Bishops seek ISP porn limit New and unexpected alliances are forming between previous opponents as more and more people are alarmed at what children are being exposed to on the Internet. Doing nothing is not an option, say Australia’s bishops.
The spousal friendship key: scholar ■ By Paul Gray, Melbourne
Lurking online: the release of a new policy by the Labor Party has revealed divisions within the federal government on how to deal with the reality of children being increasingly exposed to pornography on the internet. ■ By Paul Gray, Melbourne
Australia’s bishops have voiced their support for increased restrictions on public internet access to extreme violence and pornography. The bishops’ intervention, announced in a media statement issued last Thursday March 23, will increase the political pressure on the Australian Government to take a tougher stance with internet service providers, who have strongly resisted previous calls for increased anti-pornography regulation. Since late 2004, activists from the right and the left of the political
spectrum have combined in opposing the ready availability of violent internet pornography. The merging of conservative and liberal voices on this issue reflects an increased recognition by experts of the damage caused to children by exposure to internet pornographic material. A survey by the Australia Institute in 2003 found that 84 per cent of boys and 60 per cent of girls had been accidentally exposed to pornographic material on the internet. Until now the Australian Government has resisted calls for imposing any legal requirements on internet service providers (businesses which sell internet access) which would force the ISPs to “filter out” extreme violence and porn before selling their product to customers. However the release of a new
Labor Party policy last week has opened divisions within Government ranks over whether pornography filtering should be imposed by law. These divisions became obvious within hours of the announcement of a compulsory internet filtering policy by Labor Party Leader Kim Beazley. Responding to Mr Beazley, the Government first announced that it would have nothing to do with such a policy. The Communications Minister, Senator Helen Coonan, re-iterated the Government’s previous line that the problem of internet pornography is best handled by parents buying internet filters and installing them on the family computer themselves. “(Home) PC-based filters are more effective at blocking all man-
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AUSSIE GIRL ON VATICAN AIR Catherine Smibert went to Rome to study. She ended up married to a Roman guy, and living and working as a journalist in the eternal city. MICHELLE JONES reports...
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ner of offensive content, provide greater control to parents of the content their children are exposed to, and do not affect the performance of the internet for all users,” Senator Coonan said. But a day later, Senator Coonan voiced a markedly different line on the controversy. She now said the Government “has not ruled out ISP-based filtering,” and indicated that a trial is taking place, suggesting that the result of this trial may influence the Government’s future thinking on the issue. Following Senator Coonan’s remarks, the bishops’ committee for the media released a statement in which the committee’s chairman, Archbishop Barry Hickey, welcomed moves by the political
Editorial/Letters I say, I say The World Reviews Classifieds
Friendship between husband and wife is one of the key ingredients in a Catholic marriage, a leading Catholic scholar has told a student magazine. Dr Michael Casey, a founding organiser of Australia’s Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, also said Catholics are in a strong position to save Australian society over the next three to four decades because of their belief in “transcendent values.” Dr Casey, a sociologist who is also private secretary to Cardinal George Pell, told the Australian Catholic student magazine Sentinel that when discussing the importance of family life, friendship between husband and wife should be remembered. “Friendship between husband and wife is the critical thing to a happy marriage and a good family life,” he said. “There are happy marriages among couples who have no religion but a real friendship. Faith is a huge blessing and help to marriage and family life, but unless there is real friendship between the spouses faith alone won’t guarantee a happy marriage. “Friendship makes all the difference, and is deepened through friendship with God.” Dr Casey said the present work being done around the nation in preparation for World Youth Day in 2008, which it is hoped Pope Benedict XVI will attend, is critical to the future of Australian society. “We are currently at a crossroads (in Australian society,)” he said. “Over the course of the second half of the continued on page 7
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CHINA’S REAL GROWTH SECTOR - Page 6 - VISTA 4 - Pages 8-9 - Page 10
Journalists and economists watch China’s economic indices like hawks - but the real upsurge in China is in people’s search for faith, especially in Christianity.
- Page 11
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