Page 1224 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
example to show the sort of evidence that might change my opinion if it became available, which I doubt. We have no hesitation in legislating against incest even when incest is not a violent act. We do know that the psychological and emotional damage is well documented. Under those circumstances it is quite appropriate for us to legislate because harm is being done. But for this pornography, this non-violent erotica, there is no evidence of harm. Many people have told me that I ought not use the term "pornography". I do not find any difficulty with the term at all, I am quite happy with it, but I do want to distinguish between violent pornography and non-violent pornography.
I think that the final point should refer to the argument about the denigration of women - that pornography denigrates women. That final say really belongs - and this is where I found it worked best - with the publication from the National Committee on Violence which was misquoted by the anti-pornography campaigners. I quote directly from page 211:
The Committee deplores sexism and the denigration of women. It feels, however, that values such as these, no less than other anti-social thoughts, are best combated not by censorship, but by criticism, censure and stigmatisation in the marketplace of ideas.
Mr Collaery: We all have that quote.
MR MOORE: Yes, of course. Sorry! If you want to battle this particular issue, if you feel that X-rated movies are so bad that you want to battle them, then that is fine and that is the method by which you should do it. They are best combated not by censorship but by criticism, censure and stigmatisation in the marketplace of ideas.
MR COLLAERY (Deputy Chief Minister) (8.17): Mr Speaker, at the outset, I record that I speak as an individual, though I am conscious of the heavy responsibility I share as a Minister and as Attorney-General in the Alliance Government. My Law Office has not prepared this speech. In politics it is sometimes necessary to make difficult choices: to choose the worthy individual over the broad mass; to consider the more difficult, longer-term implications of an issue before the easier, short-term fixes; to choose broad principle before narrow, sectoral interests, no matter how much pressure is being brought to bear by those interests at the time. So it is today as we consider the question of X-rated videos in the ACT, a question that raises all these considerations.
The issues involved seem simple and clear cut but in fact are highly complex. Some crucial questions of broad principle must not be permitted to become obscured in the heat of the so-called pornography debate. What has become obscured is the right of that proportion of the population
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .