> Conroy doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it

That is being a little bit too fair. They are members of the same party, the same government. Conroy is the Minister responsible for broadband and the internet. It would be insane to think he is not intimately involved in this.

Perhaps they've decided the best way to take some heat off Conroy is to suggest something even more horrific from another department.

I think perhaps you're underestimating just how much autonomy Australian political ministers are given in managing their portfolios, particularly in areas that the public don't give a shit about.

I believe that's why the Internet filter is still being proposed. Stephen Conroy is the leader of the right-wing faction within the ALP, and therefore Rudd can't tell him to shut up and do something else. He's been given the autonomy to do whatever he wants (except on "important" issues like the NBN). The same situation existed with Michael Atkinson in SA. He pretty much determined himself without any outside consultation that he wouldn't support R18+ video games, and it appears the new AG has been given the same level of freedom and autonomy to determine his own policies.