Page 2777 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 21 November 1989
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To get back to Mr Stevenson, as I said, the horror list that he read out of things that we would all find offensive simply does not apply. They are not X-rated. Where you are getting your information from, Dennis, I do not know, but what you are saying is simply not true. You have listed a whole pile of behaviours. Strangely enough, I think we have got bestiality in there. Was that in your list, Dennis?
Mr Stevenson: Not as a video. I am only talking about what we ban.
MR DUBY: Only talking about things that are banned?
Mr Stevenson: No, we are talking about things that we ban; we do not allow these things.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Please address your comments to the Chair, Mr Duby.
MR DUBY: Mr Speaker, in his debate Mr Stevenson definitely said quite categorically that those matters were X-rated and this tax would therefore put the seal of approval on films of that kind. You know, you cannot have it both ways, Dennis. The simple fact is that a lot of the items you mentioned actually would fall within the R-rated category.
This debate essentially revolves around the question: are X-rated videos a moral danger or simply a potential financial bonanza for the ACT? Whether X-rated videos pose a moral danger does not belong in the context of this debate. That is a matter for the Commonwealth censor to determine, and the Commonwealth censor wears the fact that X-rated material should be available to the public.
Mr Humphries: No, he does not; he is told to by Federal legislation.
MR DUBY: Exactly. So arguments based on suspicions that non-violent - I repeat, non-violent - X-rated videos have the potential to incite sexual violence, distort the perceptions of our children and degrade women are not only unproven but they rightly belong within the realms of a censorship debate.
This proposed business franchise Bill and the accompanying taxation Bill are not about censorship. As members of the Assembly, we do not have the responsibility for classifying video material and therefore we do not have the right to impose censorship. That right belongs to the Commonwealth Government, and that Government only.
Speaking personally, I do not particularly like pornography, I do not condone its existence, but the fact remains that X-rated non-violent videos are legal in the ACT and they constitute a tremendous potential source of
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