Sept 02 2010
The leader of the Christian Democratic Party in NSW, a notorious Islamophobe that was trying to introduce legislation to ban the wearing of the Niqab (see:Australian burqa ban doomed to failure), has been caught up in an embarrassing internet porn scandal.
Reverend Fred Nile has been identified as one of the biggest viewers of internet pornography in an audit of NSW parliamentary computers by the Department of Parliamentary Services.
The audit, which claimed the front-bench career of a Labor minister yesterday, showed that adult content had been accessed under Reverend Fred Nile’s log-on. Sources said that up to 200,000 suspect hits had been recorded. Mr Nile denied viewing pornography and said that his staff had used his log-on for research purposes. His office added that 200,000 hits was impossible.
The audit was ordered by Speaker Richard Torbay after revelations a former parliamentary staffer had accessed online gaming.
A firewall was installed in July for Legislative Assembly MPs so they could not view pornography, but Legislative Council President Amanda Fazio elected not to install a firewall for the Upper House.
A staffer for Mr Nile, David Copeland, confirmed he had viewed sites to research the activities of the Australian Sex Party and also the proposed internet filter.
RELATED:
Angry Nile denies ‘perving’ on porn at work
Louise Hall – The Sydney Morning Herald
September 2 2010
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/angry-nile-denies-perving-on-porn-at-work-20100902-14oms.html?autostart=1
NSW MP Fred Nile has been told by parliamentary officials that no pornography was viewed using his offical computer login.
The Reverend Nile, of the Christian Democrat Party, said a report this morning from the Clerk of Parliament had found “there’s been nothing viewed on ‘cfnile’ (his computer identity) dealing with anything related to pornography. In fact, the items that are showing are called pop-ups.”
A report by the Department of Parliamentary Services showed his computers had accessed porn sites up to 200,000 times.
But speaking at a press conference today, Mr Nile said his staff had visited the websites of the Australian Sex Party and the Eros Foundation to see if these sites contained links to hardcore porn.
One staff member, a part-time researcher, uses Mr Nile’s personal login name and password.
He was aware that his staffers were looking up websites to conduct research to inform his party’s campaign against the Australian Sex Party and any legislation in Parliament relating to internet filters, he said.
The staffers only needed a “few seconds” on each site to ascertain the type of material it contained and did not watch entire films or movies.
“I have not had my staff in there perving over a pornographic film,” he said.
“He’s just viewed the site to see what type of material is on the site and then switched it off.
“I was aware they were doing it but they haven’t shown it to me and they just simply use that information to draft research documents and speeches for me.”
Mr Nile has asked the department to investigate the logins assigned to his two full-time staff members.
The Australian Federal Police will be asked to investigate if any of the three computers in Mr Nile’s parliamentary office were hacked to explain the large number of hits.
Mr Nile said he had never in his life viewed pornography.