Page 1246 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
regulations of the advertising of this material. However, this would have to be done in conjunction with the States and the Federal Government, as many of the magazines are distributed nationwide.
Another one of my chief concerns with the banning of X-rated videos is what will happen to them when they are sent underground. At present, the industry in the ACT is self-regulated. If X-rated videos are banned, people who at present seek X-rated, non-violent videos only could be exposed to a business where anything goes, including sexually violent videos, snuff videos and those which feature bestiality and children.
The economics of policing the industry if it were banned could be more than the Territory could handle in this present economic climate. If X-rated videos are banned - it has been said that there will be mailing lists waiting for the highest bidder - there are certain people or groups just waiting to get their hands on them so that they can expand their already questionable businesses.
I have had representations from many organisations and individuals, some for and some against the Bill. The majority of complaints that I have received have been against violent videos rather than X-rated videos. Many people who contacted me did not know the difference between an R-rated video, an X-rated video and videos which have no classification and which are banned. This makes me question whether the community is viewing this issue as a fully informed and rational debate or an emotive issue.
I recognise that parents are not able to supervise their children 24 hours a day and that this problem increases as children get older. Also, parents have little control over what their children view in someone else's house, shops, waiting rooms, et cetera. For this same reason, could we not argue for the banning of alcohol, tobacco and certain medications? Maybe it is time the community stopped fobbing off this responsibility onto society as a whole and started accepting responsibility as individual adults.
Only adults are allowed to borrow or buy X-rated videos, and those who do borrow or buy have the responsibility not to allow such publications to fall into the hands of young people, just as they have a responsibility with anything that could be detrimental to a child's well-being. Moreover, I have seen young teenagers working behind video counters. Perhaps this issue needs to be thoroughly examined and regulated.
This brings me to another issue which indeed needs urgent investigation and which also has been mentioned before, which is: exactly what is happening in other States? Okay, so the videos are banned in the other States except in the Northern Territory. Mr David Prowse said that the Northern Territory is waiting to bring in a ban if we do. Why does it not go ahead and do it before us? Why, then,
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .