THE Federal Government’s anti-spam legislation has been passed by the Senate without amendment and is set to become law once it has been given approval by the Governor General.
Amendments to the legislation put forward by Labor and the Democrats in the House of Representatives were removed.
The legislation is not expected to reduce the amount of spam received by Australian email users, as most spam is generated overseas, but is considered a step in the right direction by most industry bodies.
In a statement released to announce the result Communications Minister Daryl Williams said spam accounted for half of all worldwide email and was expected to continue to grow.
“It is a real and costly threat to the communications infrastructure that we increasingly rely on socially, in government and at work.
“The Australian Government does not pretend that legislation alone will be the silver bullet to address this global nuisance. Spam poses a complex problem for the international community and the solution is not straight-forward.
“The Government’s approach to combating spam combines domestic legislation with international negotiation, public education, the development of industry codes of practice and of technical counter-measures.
“By removing Australia as a source of spam through the legislation passed today, we will be able to promote international collaboration to fight spammers,” he said.
The provisions in the bill will take effect 120 days after royal assent is given.