Page 1232 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
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Conservative repression solves nothing. Lasting solutions are to be found in thoughtful, responsible government initiatives. These, I believe, are the best defence against undesirable elements within the community without eroding basic democratic rights. The eighteenth century French humanist, Voltaire, is reported to have written:
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
I can only endorse those sentiments and urge members to keep in mind the bigger picture when considering this issue.
Mr Speaker, I table a letter from me to the Hon. Michael Duffy, Federal Attorney-General, dated 9 April 1990; the January-February 1990 issue of New Citizen; the publication, Intelligence Survey, Volume XXXVIII No. 2 (February 1990), edited by Eric Butler.
DR KINLOCH (8.37): Mr Speaker, first of all might I briefly respond to one comment by Mr Collaery, many of whose remarks I admired. I would want to make one clear distinction between the kinds of films to which he briefly referred and the kinds of films that we see in hard-core pornography.
I would be the first to object to any attempt to ban such films as Hail Mary or The Last Temptation of Christ. Those films have intellectual content, aesthetic sense, even a rather profound moral and theological sense. There is no way in which we should violate freedom of speech in the case of such films, and I am glad to join Mr Collaery in saying that about those films. Please let us make a distinction between what has worth and what does not have worth.
First of all, I need to speak not from some kind of moral pulpit about sexuality but out of a love for our city in its role as the national capital of Australia - a city which is a good neighbour of the State of New South Wales and a city which is obviously recognised as a central point in the life of the nation in all the States of Australia.
It would not be appropriate for me, with the kinds of personal faults I have, to try to tell other people how to live their individual lives, certainly not their sexual lives. Let him who is without sin amongst us throw the first stone.
Similarly, it is improper in this debate to resort to ad hominem arguments. I object to any arguments which are based on the political views or opinions of the people holding them. We are here debating the question of X-rated videos and I reject also some of the ad hominem tactics of the publicists of the hard-core pornography issue. Some of the things that have been said and done are disgraceful. I will not go through them. I believe they are beyond whatever should have happened in this Territory.
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