Page 2790 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 21 November 1989
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The real issue here is one of revenue. I really believe that this debate is about revenue. The X-rated video industry maintains a huge financial turnover. This has been estimated at some $25m annually. Here we have the opportunity to take a slice of that sum. Cigarettes and alcohol, both of which many believe pose dangers to the community, are taxed. Cigarettes and alcohol are not going to go away, and I believe that X-rated videos are not going to go away. So why should we hesitate to tax a legitimate industry - and it is legitimate in the ACT - which is currently allowed to bask in a glory of financial success?
My real concern is the fact that driving the industry underground will expose those who seek X-rated videos, even those just looking for non-violent erotica, into a business where anything goes, including sexually violent videos, snuff videos and those which feature bestiality. The legitimate X-rated video industry currently operating in the ACT is, to a great extent, self-regulating, and self-imposes controls to ensure such depravity does not find its way onto shelves and under counters within the ACT.
Another argument often put forward against pornography is the suggestion that X-rated videos are degrading to women. In most cases, I would say they probably are. But, to some women, the acts depicted in X-rated videos are stimulating, just as they are to men. The extent to which X-rated videos are degrading is surely in the eye of the beholder. Many of the videos are actually produced and directed by women for women. Many of the actors and actresses involved, in many cases, are very much in control of how the story line will be delivered in the film. As stated earlier, some of them are very highly paid.
I must admit that my real concern is with R-rated videos rather than with X-rated videos. At least X-rated videos are kept out of sight and therefore largely out of mind. If members of the general public want access to them, they have to ask and go out of their way to get them. Yet R-rated videos can be, and mostly are, violent; they can contain simulated sex and are easily accessible, not only to adults but also to children. Video stores, which are often frequented by children, openly display the most dreadful and hideous video covers and posters. I think it is these videos which should be more strictly censored, rather than X-rated videos, which are already under reasonably strict regulations and which will be further regulated by the institution of legislation rendering distributors accountable under licensing laws and taxation.
MR COLLAERY (10.24): Mr Speaker, while Residents Rally MLAs are allowed a conscience vote under our longstanding policy, the fact is that on the core issues the three MLAs are in agreement. In our view, the Bill raises several matters for consideration. Canberra is the seat of national government. It has always been considered that Canberra would symbolise, in its built and landscaped form,
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