Communications Minister Stephen Conroy this morning said the Australian Government wouldn’t take the sort of action its counterpart in Egypt has over the past week, in attempting to block communication between protesters in the country by shutting down all access to the internet.

Egypt has attracted international condemnation for its Government’s internet shutdown command, which saw communications in the country severed from January 27 by executive order. Vodafone said services had eventually been restored to its customers in Egypt on Saturday morning, noting in a blog post several days ago that it had no legal options but to comply with “the demands of the the authorities” on the issue.

The issue has attracted questions in Australia about whether such a situation — unlikely though it seems — could eventuate Down Under. Speculation has also run rife on the issue in the wake of news that the United States was considering legislation that would grant the US President “kill switch” powers over the internet in that country.

Telecommunications consultant and commentator David Havyatt wrote on iTNews this week that some legislation does exist in this area in Australia, but ultimately security forces would be unlikely to support any action to cut internet access, and ultimately it would depend on the political power of the Government of the day to push such a move through.

However, this morning Conroy — speaking at the launch of a new HP datacentre in Sydney — told journalists the idea wasn’t being floated in Australia.

“Australia’s a vibrant democracy, where the government doesn’t control the internet,” he said. “I don’t think we have any of these powers — that we could pass a law to make ISP services turn off when we want them to? I don’t think we have that power now, and I don’t think anyone’s seeking it.”

Conroy said in “a pluralistic, open speech, free speech” society such as Australia, he didn’t think the sorts of actions taken “by a whole range of governments in recent times” would be implemented.

“I mean I understand China blocked access to the word Egypt, I read. But those aren’t the sort of actions Australia supports or would participate in,” he said.

Flooding the NBN

Conroy also commented on the potential impact on the National Broadband Network from the recent catastrophic events in Queensland — not just the floods that took out much of the state’s infrastructure, but also tropical cyclone Yasi, whose effects are still being felt in the Sunshine State.

A report in the AustralianIT this morning had suggested that large parts of the Townsville early stage leg of the NBN rollout could be facing a rebuild. However, Conroy said the Townsville rollout was “almost completed”, and that although the flood issue would need to be dealt with, this was not dissimilar from any other infrastructure “that gets hit by 30 year events”.

In addition, he pointed out that the current national copper network operated by Telstra was more susceptible to problems from events such as floods than the next-generation fibre being rolled out by NBN Co — as copper degraded in water. “Fibre is actually a far more robust technology for dealing with, particularly, floods,” he said.

NBN Co would inspect the potential damage, he said, after it was safe to.

As to the matter of whether the Queensland reconstruction project would put pressure on the NBN rollout due to scarce human contracting resources in the state, Conroy said that was an issue for every company. “Just like every other company in Australia, NBN will manage the same sort of pressures as all of those other companies,” he said. However, the Communications Minister noted that the Government had attempted to “calibrate” some of the resourcing issues by cutting back on other infrastructure projects.

Lastly, Conroy gave a very brief update on his opinion of whether the Federal Government’s deal with Telstra over the NBN would land before the company’s imminent results briefing session. “I’m an optimist, so I’ve got my fingers crossed,” he said.

Video credit: Marina Freri, Delimiter