Dear rally organisers,

Please accept my apologies for the rally this Friday.

I will be leaving for Sydney this morning in preparation for my trip to Indonesia next week. I am serving as an election monitor for that country's first democratic election in more than 40 years.

What an irony that Australia should be lending its support to Indonesia as it edges towards democracy, while at the same time the democratic rights and freedoms of Australians are under attack in our own country through this incideous legislation.

Perhaps we need election monitors from Asia to oversee our democratic processes? Afterall, the internet censorship control being proposed by our federal government is far more draconian and invasive than that of Malaysia, Singapore, and many other states under strict religious and social regime.

This legislation is unnecessary, unreasonable and founded on the myth that children must be protected from the big bad internet bogey man. And let there be no misunderstanding, the claim that this legislation is designed to protect children is utterly false and dishonest. Historically, the forces of bigotry and intolerance have always tried to shroud their ideology in the notion of "child protection". Do not be conned by this argument, it is an emotive smokescreen designed to hide a more sinister agenda.

The fact remains that potentially harmful materials on the internet must be specifically hunted for and personally retrieved. It does not fall into innocent laps.

In this regard, I believe the point at which censorship may be exercised must remain with the user and/or their parents. Blanket censorship is a clumsy knee-jerk reaction to a perceived problem that will only serve to disrupt the lives of ordinary internet users.

Senator Brian Harradine appears to see himself as a "one-man Taliban", intent on imposing strict moral and cultural laws on an unwilling community. This reactionary and backwards legislation must be confronted. It represents the greatest attack on personal freedom since the Hawke Government's ill-fated Australia Card.

It must be opposed. The Democrats will oppose it.

Regards,

Brian Greig, Senator-elect