Page 1251 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
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How could any woman support X-rated video material? Most women - I had hoped all women - support the improvement of the status of women. I have heard all other women members of this Assembly refer to seeking to improve the status of women. What rubbish if they then allow the free availability of material which depicts women as objects! How can women support a responsible moral standard for women if they decline to support the introduction of legislation to ban X-rated videos? They are not showing any commitment to improve the status of women. Action speaks louder than words. They should be supporting such legislation.
The concern with this legislation is that we, as ACT legislators, can ban only the direct sale. The real concern comes down to what is allowed into this country. That is outside our charter. However, it is absolutely essential to do our part in restricting such material. My major concern in regard to X-rated videos is the availability of such material in the ACT and how easily our children can obtain it. While I do not support anyone deliberately setting out to deceive anyone else, I was very concerned to see just how easy it was for a young 13-year-old to obtain an X-rated video. However, I am also concerned about the availability of such material by mail order around Australia.
I have concerns about certain sections of this Bill, and if it does pass - unfortunately, that appears unlikely at this point - I will be proposing certain amendments to the Bill. I was pleased to receive Mr Stevenson's letter proposing that clauses 4, 5 and 6 be removed. That certainly was an area of concern to me. The Publications Control (Amendment) Bill should be considered very carefully by each and every member of the Assembly this evening. This Assembly's message is to be received by the rest of Australia. This is the national capital, and we should take the lead. I urge members to support the Bill.
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (9.41): I rise in this debate to support Mr Stevenson's Bill. In doing so, I acknowledge that the issues involved certainly are not simple. They are issues of great complexity, and they divide people with very decent and honourable motives. Many people might have expected me, as a small "l" liberal to oppose this Bill as an infringement on personal liberties.
Mrs Grassby: Never, never.
MR HUMPHRIES: I am glad to see that Mrs Grassby has never made that mistake, but I think other people might put the view that as a liberal I ought to be allowing people to have a free rein to read or view whatever they want in the privacy of their homes. That was certainly the small "l" liberal position articulated by Ms Follett.
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