An attempt by the Australian Government to censor the internet has failed. A corruption whistleblower has sidestepped Government attempts to close his sites by moving all 60 sites to a USA server "smuggled.com" late in 1997.

In September 1997 Australia's most frequently banned investigative author, Raymond Hoser was advised that the Kennett State Government was again attempting to have his 60 odd internet websites wiped from the internet. This followed an earlier unlawful wiping of Hoser and his sites late in 1996. Then in violation of a Supreme Court judgment, Kennett Government MP Victor Perton illegally directed that Hoser's sites be wiped from ISP Starway Corporation. These were restored about a month later on a different server.

Hoser's next internet service provider - "Lexicon" did not wipe Hoser's sites but the pressure to maintain them become too much so wiping them became an inevitability. Besides Victor Perton who seems to have developed an obsession about having Hoser's ant-corruption sites removed from the WWW, other arms of the Kennett government had also joined in the push to have Hoser's sites censored from the internet. Included were officials from the Victoria Police, The State Ombudsman's Office and Terry O'Keefe of the Victorian Taxi Directorate. One of Hoser's sites documented corruption involving O'Keefe as well as the Victoria Police.

Although the government officials attempting to have Hoser's sites wiped from the internet claim they have been defamed, the fact remains that truth is NOT defamatory. Furthermore it is not surprising that the officials attempting to ban Hoser have lost ALL defamation cases launched against Hoser in spite of their vastly superior financial and legal resources. The government's own estimates are that over ten million dollars have been spent over the last ten years attempting to censor Hoser and falsify criminal charges against him.

As well as the above group of government officials, people with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service have unsuccessfully sought to have Hoser's sites wiped by court proceedings. In another incident, following intervention by Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service official Paul Jewell, Hoser had internet access wiped early in 1997. Jewell has been publicly discredited over false and defamatory statements several times. Two of Hoser's books, Smuggled and Smuggled-2, detail corruption in Australia's wildlife bureaucracy, including trafficking fauna, drugs, murders, etc.

Hoser pre-empted this latest push at internet censorship by moving all his sites to the USA server "smuggled.com". "smuggled.com" has issued a statement saying 'no sites will be wiped by corrupt officials from Australia on our server...people have a right to know the truth'.

Hoser says 'The Kennett government has led the charge to censor information they deem adverse to their public profile and what they want the public to believe. There is no doubt that corrupt officials will attempt to wipe everything they find in any way politically damaging to themselves'. He goes on to say, 'This latest attempted censorship of the internet by the Victorian government will not work and makes a mockery of their claims of trying to attract multi-media investment in this state - few will dare risk coming here in these circumstances'. Hoser says 'the earlier wiping of my Australian sites set a dangerous precedent that few will want to follow...they will simply move their sites overseas instead!'.

Hoser's USA sites are now out of reach of Australian officials. He notes that the extra money spent in another country setting up the sites should have been spent here generating local jobs. A number of other corruption whistleblowers have also had their sites censored by Australian government officials in a trend that is worrying internet users across Australia. It appears that some of these sites will also be hosted by "smuggled.com", which already expanded to include a site detailing new corruption in the Carr government of NSW as well as that State's Police force. Hoser notes that (illegal) internet censorship in Australia is now perhaps the worst in the western world.

In 1994, Victoria Police raided Hoser's house to attempt to stop publication of his book, The Hoser Files - The Fight Against Entrenched Official Corruption. In 1996, his book Smuggled-2: Wildlife Trafficking Crime and Corruption in Australia was banned until Christmas eve pending a series of three defamation trials. Hoser won all three. An attempt to have Hoser's internet sites wiped was also fought in the Supreme court, but lost by the government side. That didn't stop them (Perton) from illegally wiping them anyway, within hours of the decision! Also in 1996, the Kennett government illegally had the entire print-run of a taxi industry magazine (Taxi Call) seized. It had an article by Hoser documenting corruption in that state's transport department. Perton and the Kennett government have actively aided and abetted large-scale corruption for some time, however their near total control of local media has been used to prevent widespread exposure of their more nefarious activities. The above media release was faxed to all mainstream media outlets in Australia in late September 1997. All chose not to report it. That fact in itself speaks highly of how controlled the Australian press is and how tight censorship here really is. In terms of censorship Hoser says, 'You can fool some people some of the time, but not all people all the time'.

Add on note: Victor Perton seems to spend most of his tax-payer funded spare time surfing the internet looking for sites to wipe. He is generously described as a ratbag.. He also maintains a large website devoted mainly to self promotion. If you disagree with his improper and illegal tactics of censorship on the internet as well as his actively aiding and abetting corruption in Australia, then e-mail your protest to him at victorp@vicnet.net.au (click here to e-mail him now).