Protest: 19,000 Australians petition against Internet filter

More than 19,000 Australians have opposed mandatory internet filtering in a petition tabled in the Senate this week.

Launched in mid-January by Electronics Frontier Australia (EFA), the petition asserts that individuals - not the Government - should be allowed to determine how and what online content is blocked.

Printed and online signatures were collected nationwide, from Perth CBD to Sydney's Northern Beaches and Darwin suburb, Nakara.

Declaring that "mandatory internet filtering is censorship", the petition called for the Senate to reject the Labor Government's $23.8m ISP-level internet filtering proposal.

Petitioners asked that the Senate reject any plan to filter the internet, and redirect funding to law enforcement agencies or education programs instead.