Protecting children?
Yeah right!
Australia is a great target for this type of anti-filesharing legislation. Internet adoption is rather low compared to the US and UK (I know people in their mid 30's with no internet access), its also expensive and most ISP's have very low bandwidth caps. I have a 25gig limit (the second highest my ISP offers) and it costs around $75/month. Telstra also counts uploads as well as downloads in the traffic allowance, so internet usage and filesharing in particular hasn't really taken off.
Yes you can use encryption to defeat filters but that isn't really the point - it will still be illegal and the Australian police are very zealous about law enforcement. In answer to the skype issue, I seem to think the Chinese have their own tapping facility for skype so a similar Australian version shouldn't be too hard to put together. <opensource plug goes here>
Also, it doesn't have to work particularly well, technically. If its passed in Oz, it will be pushed harder around the world.
I'm not sure how exactly children are thought to "stumble" across porn torrents. TPB takes great pains to move porn out of the way and "cross-posters" usually get abusive comments for putting such material in the wrong place. As for kiddie porn, I'm pretty sure police from all countries are happy to cooperate to stamp this out - its already illegal. Without private, encrypted (i.e. non-filterable) torrents purveyors of this stuff are going to jail pretty quickly. No further legislation is needed.
I agree with kissingthecarpet. People who travel tend to be more progressive in their outlook and technically savvy. The bulk are rather conservative, technically ignorant, internet impaired and too laid-back for their own good. I could easily see this legislation being passed.
Yes, its cyber-security, its just not for kids, its for Hollywood. If you want to protect kids from sex&violence, it would make sense to hit those who sell it where it hurts, in the pocket. That would mean encouraging copyright infringement, surely!
Pirates - that's big business and government with big boots.