• involve mobile phone operators installing adult content filters on phones which will be switched on as the default unless the customer proves he or she is at least 18 years of age; and • involve major internet service providers providing home network filters for all new home broadband services, which will be switched on as the default unless the customer specifies otherwise. And again further down; As has recently been achieved in the UK, we expect these standards will involve the major internet service providers providing home network filters for all new home broadband services, which will be switched on as the default unless the customer specifies otherwise. The Children’s e-Safety Commissioner will develop default safety standards for smartphones and other devices, and internet access services, within 12 months of the election.

There's no ambiguity here. It looked pretty clear that the Coalition felt it could drop the filtering bombshell two days before the election and escape any serious scrutiny. The plan isn't as draconian as Stephen Conroy's now abandoned filtering scheme, but at least Conroy had the guts to lay his cards on the table and argue the point. Over the next few hours, as word of the policy spread, both Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Fletcher – Coalition MP and chair of its Online Safety Working Group – defended the policy in the media, with Turnbull speaking on Triple J. It wasn't until several hours after the story broke that Malcolm Turnbull announced that it was all a big mistake. The blame lay with a "poorly worded" policy which "incorrectly indicated that the Coalition supported an 'opt out' system of internet filtering for both mobile and fixed line services. That is not our policy and never has been". When pushed for an explanation on Twitter, Turnbull responded: "I read policy shortly before going on @triplej I did my best to make sense of it, until I could ensure it was authoritatively corrected."

In a day when Joe Hockey had already been openly mocked in the media for his last-minute costings announcements, releasing the wrong policy document was a major stuff up the Coalition could really do without. But should we really just brush it aside and chalk it up to human error? The policy document was not poorly worded. It clearly and concisely conveyed exactly the message it was intended to convey, that a Coalition government intends to introduce opt-out internet filtering for all Australians. Someone, somewhere wrote this policy document and someone else signed off on it. The Coalition's two key IT spokesmen then went on to defend it in the media. It took several hours for them to suddenly realise they were actively defending something they would never support, although Turnbull doesn't sound unsure of himself in that Triple J clip. So what really happened? Did the Coalition seriously expect this policy to slip through unnoticed? Did they change their minds at the last moment? Are they trying to pull the wool over our eyes, or are they merely incompetent? None of these options bode well for a bunch of politicians hoping to form the next government of Australia. Is it really feasible that Turnbull, one of the key architects of the Coalition's national broadband policy, had never set eyes on this policy? If we do give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he had never seen the policy before, then what Turnbull is telling us is that he will agree with any policy document put in front of him and defend it in the media, even if it's something he's previously said he's opposed to. Either way he doesn't come out looking good. As news of the mistake spread, Tony Abbott came out and said the filtering policy had a "lack of clarity".

"I read the policy last night, quickly it has to be said, and I thought it was a reference to the ability of people to get PC-based filter that’s what I thought it was,” Abbott said. "There was a badly worded sentence or two in the document that went out or earlier today. In this particular instance, there was a failure of quality of control." So the man who would be Prime Minister of this country skimmed this important policy document for the first time, only days before the election, and then signed off on it while either failing to spot a giant mistake or simply failing to understand it. Once again, he's either not telling the truth or not very good at his job. Loading This was far more than a "badly worded sentence or two" and the filtering policy didn't lack "clarity". What's lacking here is either honesty or competency. Is this the filtering policy they planned to unveil after the election? What other surprises do they have in store? Or is it all a big mistake because they don't read their own policies until the last minute and then the sign off on them without even understanding them? How many other Coalition policies "lack clarity"?

Liars or fools? You decide, Australia.