Asher Moses, the journo we have come to look for as the signposter of the #nocleanfeed debate, has published Nick Xenophon’s denouncement of the filter.

As soon as the article was tweeted by Michael Meloni, the goldfish of the twitterverse began a rain of champagne and retweets celebrating the death of the filter scheme.

The problem is that nothing has been scuttled, the filter is still on track and the government has made no comment at all. 

As happy as I am to see Xenophon getting something right for a change, his vote has not yet been cast. Xenophon’s position on legislation changes the second someone can offer him something in return for his vote. He backed down on blocking the bailout as soon as Rudd offered him succor on one of Xenophon’s own little bugbears.

While the Retweets flew thick and fast, commentary from EFA heavy hitters and anti-filter lobbyists was cautious. 

EFA chairman Nic Suzor and vice- chair Colin Jacobs both agreed that the celebrations were premature:

Coljac: When I hear it from Conroy’s lips, I’ll relax. #nocleanfeed

NicSuzor: I don’t think we can afford to slow down or relax at this point. #nocleanfeed

Twitter user Warren_s puts it well when he tweeted:

warren_s: i’ll believe it when the votes are cast. Xenephon “blocked” Rudd’s stimulus until they gave him something in return… #nocleanfeed

The best explanation so far comes from mpesce:

mpesce: @disassociated True. For the rest of the Murray-Darling money, Xenophon will let Conroy have his #nocleanfeed.

What needs to happen now is that people who oppose the filter need to send Xenophon a letter or an email telling him that we support his decision. He’s going to be copping some flack from the ACL and their zombies over the next few days so a little bit of positive reinforcement will go a long way.

I’m not convinced that this is a particularly huge step in the campaign. It’s certainly a step in the right direction but we can hardly light up yet.