The Greens, announcing its cyber safety policy, says that a national broadband network is necessary even though Australians don't need a mandatory Internet filter to decide what is appropriate to view online.

The party proposed that the government allocate the $40 million in its budget for cyber safety to PC-based filtering, research into cyber safety risks, stronger laws and education programs.

Scott Ludlam, Greens Senator, said that he has always criticized the proposed mandatory Internet filter of the government because of the "simple fact that it won't work and it risks a number of unacceptable consequences"

The Greens are set to launch a cyber safety initiative at a forum in Brisbane. The Coalition earlier announced that it would not move forward with mandatory Internet filtering if it emerged victorious in the 2010 election.

The government has proposed and persisted with a mandatory Internet filter plan despite protests from the IT community and civil libertarian groups. "Queensland's online community has been particularly disparaging of Labor's mandatory Internet filter and want it to be dumped, not just suspended... They can see that a voluntary filter at the household level would be more effective to protect kids," Ludlam said.

"Filtering has a role in preventing accidental exposure to material that is inappropriate for a young audience. But rather than filtering a very limited range of material at the ISP level that does not include, for example, X-rated pornography or gambling sites, let's place an obligation upon ISPs to offer PC-based filtering solutions that can be customised to block a much broader range of content at the PC level."

The senator said that it is vital to understand threats to young people online like cyber bullying and "grooming." The Greens would give due attention into such threats and will seek the counsel of experts on how to fight its effects.

"The response that most people would like to see to child abuse is law enforcement. They would like to see the people responsible identified and prosecuted," Ludlam said.