No conscience vote on filter: Conroy

In an interview for the ABC's PM program yesterday, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said that there would be no conscience vote on the government's proposed mandatory internet filter.

"Conscience votes go to matters to do with life and death in the Labor Party," Conroy said.

The minister said that the filter debate was not about censorship, rather it centred around refused classification material.

"I'm not sure that the censorship claim stacks up. This is about classification systems. At the moment in Australia, there is no conscience vote on refused classification for movies, TV, DVDs or book stores," the minister said.

Conroy then called on the newly installed Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to justify his position on the filter to families concerned about child pornography.

"According to the latest information I have here from the [Australian Communications and Media Authority], there are 430 child pornography sites on the [World Wide Web] ... that are accessible to anyone."

"[Malcolm Turnbull] has to explain to Australian families that he is prepared to do nothing about blocking access to those sites," Conroy added.

Turnbull — a self-professed tech head, gadget fan and staunch supporter of high-speed wireless broadband — said during the election campaign that there was no market for 100Mbps fibre internet.

Conroy countered Turnbull's position, saying that the NBN wasn't just about speed.

"It's not just about download speeds. People keep saying that you can get 100Mbps on wireless and [hybrid-fibre coaxial], it's about the capacity."

"If Malcolm is the tech head that he claims he is, he will stop telling Australian's that they can get the same capacity on a wireless network that you can on a fibre network," Conroy added.