Freelance writer and Internet consultant, Kaiser Kuo, who was also present on the ABC program, said that as an American of Chinese descent, the movement of a traditionally liberal country like Australia to government-run information censorship was regrettable.

US ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, recently condemned the Government's proposed mandatory internet filter on the same ABC program.

"We have been able to accomplish the goals that Australia has described, which is to capture and prosecute child pornographers and others who use the Internet for terrible purposes, without having to use internet filters," he said. "We have other means and we are willing to share our efforts with them in order to allow them to at least look at a range of choices, as opposed to moving in one particular direction."

With legislation unlikely to hit Parliament before the next Federal election, community debate continues to rage as to how to implement a filter designed to protect children from Refused Classification material, and where the responsibility ultimately lies for its maintenance.

In posing a question to members of the Q&A panel, Child Wise chief executive officer, BernadetteMcMenamin, asked why Internet service providers (ISPs) - who would be responsible for the technical maintenance of the filter for their respective users - are not held more accountable for the dissemination of illegal material. While this question was not directly answered by the panel members, it is one that remains prominent in the debate surrounding the mandatory filter.