"Information used to be carried by horse and cart... or by ship. Education was the possession of a few men... now 404 million Chinese use the Internet," he said.

He objected to comments that he supported Internet content filtering, and said "it is sad to see a sovereignty so stepped in liberal tradition taking the choice away from people, teachers and into the hands of government".

Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O'Conner, said the Federal Minister aims to provide "as much access to material as possible" adding that some material is "so extreme that you wouldn't want to access it".

Panellists on the show which delved into Australia's controversial Internet content filter, including Access Now executive director, Brett Solomon, and blogger Helen Razer said the government should drop its plans, claiming the technology is "unworkable".