Page 1242 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
illiteracy, unemployment, alienated youth and mental illness. Let Mr Moore produce figures that disagree with that sort of statement; I think he would have some problems. These are not statistics which can be contemplated with any satisfaction by any of us, yet we know that, unchecked, they could destroy the fabric of our society. We also know that finding answers is not easy.
There are no simple solutions, as many civilisations have found through the ages. Many factors have been blamed for this general decay in our society - the media, the pill, declining involvement in church and community life, lack of discipline of children and so on. No doubt, all have played their part to a greater or lesser degree.
In considering tonight whether to ban the sale and distribution of pornographic videos in the ACT and beyond, I am aware that alone it is not going to solve the problems that I have mentioned. But in passing this Bill with its necessary amendments we will be sending a message to the people of the ACT and Australia that we are prepared to bite the bullet and begin the process of raising standards again. It is only a beginning because I am sure many here would agree that the issues of gratuitous violence on videos, films and television desperately need further examination and reform. I welcome and fully support any moves in that area.
We cannot afford, however, the continuation of this spirit that "self-gratification is all that counts and who cares who gets hurt in the process?". What sort of society have we become - one which allows the selfish pandering to desires at the expense of all those who suffer because of it?
I am sure that we have all read enough of the material that has crossed our desks in the last few months to know that there are too many individuals in our society for whom soft porn is not just a titillating aid to a normal sex life. Too many become addicted to it, and I would suggest that one or two is too many. They use it as stepping stones to harder and more perverse porn that is available. We all know it is available. It is available in not only the ACT but also other States. I am fully aware of that, as I know are many others. People use it as a prelude to rape, incest or other violent crimes.
By allowing these videos to be marketed legally, are we not sending out a subconscious message that we condone the submission, the fanciful relationships, the exploitation and the gender stereotyping that are the lingering images of these pictures that have no artistic or literary merit which even the adult video industry accepts as being true? In a discussion that I had some months ago with Robbie Swan, he admitted to me - I think Mr Collaery was present at the time - that 70 to 80 per cent, if not more, of the stuff that they were pushing out of their shops was nothing but pure, unadulterated hard-core pornography. It had no
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .