Mr BILLSON (10:24 PM) —I listened with interest to what the member for Bonython had to say, and what struck me most about his contribution was how little he had to say about the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999 now before the House. He gave us the potted history of the technology's development over the last 10 years and told us how we should be relying on other acts—and I assume he meant the Crimes Act remedies. Having said that one act will not work, Labor believes that another act might. It just underlines the computer industry saying of `garbage in, garbage out'.

I suspect that the member for Bonython might do well to have a read of what actually is in the government's proposal. He shared with us a number of glib and comforting comments as he walked that very fine line of looking unhappy with what the government is doing but not daring to oppose it, holding up some straw ideal and some counterfeit logic as a substitute for action on this subject. He would do well to find that in this package the government has embraced a number of the useful complementary steps he alluded to in his contribution—and perhaps by the time we do hear what the opposition has to say its members may realise that fact by actually looking at the content of the bill. That would be a very good start, I suspect.

I am probably one of the less censorial type characters in this place. When suggestions about `censoring content' and things like that come before me, I take a very sceptical view. It is not easy to offend me, frankly, and I suppose in public life that is something that is quite comforting.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr BILLSON —It is good that my colleagues over there agree. But I also believe in the capacity of competent adults to choose between right and wrong and to make choices about what sort of entertainment/information service they might be interested in. Having said that, though, on the Internet are large scale examples of what can only be described as `cyber-septic'. It is not those competent adults who cannot make the choices that I think many of us in this place grant to our citizens—it is not those people who are our main concern—it is people who are not in a position to make those sorts of judgments and the impact that some of this cyber-septic has on them.

I will give an example. My little boy is 18 months old, and I hope one day he will be as interested in technology as I was in my former life in IT before coming to this place. He likes animals. He may one day think, `Gee, I've heard about giraffes, I've never been to Africa, but I wonder what one looks like.' He might go to AltaVista or any other search engine one could think of and type in `animal pictures'. As his father, I would be happy for him to have a look at some of the work there, such as wild animal pictures, our world's endangered species, or other `critters', as they are described. We have the Pico Ranch Trophy Animal Place, where they can show us photos of animals. We even have animal pictures from the Four-Wheel Drive Hire Service, an Australian picture gallery. But, even when going through an innocuous inquiry like that, you start finding sites such as `Sex with animal pictures'. I will not go through the way they market the product, the content, to be picked up by an inquiring mind. I will not go through how they present this part of the `wonderful world information library' that the member for Bonython talked about. That is an innocuous inquiry. That is inadvertent exposure to something most reasonable people would find absolutely offensive. But he might then go to the next step—

Mr Martyn Evans interjecting—

Mr BILLSON —And it is great that you have plenty to say about this because you said nothing in your contribution, Member for Bonython. So, nice line, you tried very hard to make it sound as though you were concerned. But my son might go on with his search. He might get to school years and type in any search engine you might like `school fun'. I will not go through the examples of what is in there but—considering the baloney that the member for Bonython went on with about this enormously useful tool, this great library being delivered to 20 per cent of households across our country—with an innocuous inquiry like that I would hate to tell you of the sites it dreams up.

We will go on a bit further. Maybe Britney Spears is a big celebrity by this time. My son might think, `Well, I wonder what Britney Spears is about; I'll see if I can find a story about her career in teen magazines.' You would have to go through page after page to find anything under that search engine refer ence that is anything other than smut and pornography.

Those opposite seem to want to come in here, give a potted history of the technology and ignore the reality out there of what sort of content is available in response to innocuous inquiries. You could go and look for an Offspring poster under `teen stars'. Again, it is a litany of filth and cyber-septic that people are up against. You could go through any of these otherwise innocuous search engines in the way I have outlined and you would understand what I have put to you.

Debate interrupted.