Comment The real news is that legislation is required (Score 1) 308
Legal advice has been obtained recently that the Australian government cannot implement the internet filter without legislating. That is the real news here.
Both the greens and the opposition spokesmen oppose the filter. Xenophon's vote would be crucial only if there was a coalition split on the issue, such as if the National party senators split from their opposition colleagues.
There doesn't seem to be any evidence of this. Either the Fairfax article is incorrect or their journalists know something that's not been made public.