Australia: The Great Leap Backward?

A disturbing story from the Associated Press regarding governmental efforts Down Under to implement what would appear to be the most extensive Internet content controls outside of the world's few remaining Communist countries.

Just how such a proposal ever gained so much traction in a First World democracy is beyond me, particularly now that we are well into the second decade of the Internet Age. Have its proponents stopped to consider that right now just might not be the best time to make their country less attractive to business and investment by doing this? Laptop-toting executives won't think much of a country whose hotspots aren't more useful than those in China.

And don't give me that garbage about this being "for the children." One would think Australia would be the last place on earth where the government would propose-and the public would tolerate-such an attempt to usurp the responsibility of parents like this by substituting its judgment for theirs.

What a sad thing to contemplate on New Year's Day, a holiday that is supposed to be all about looking forward-and a holiday that Sydney is always the first big city to celebrate.