Page 1255 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
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Mrs Grassby: No, Bernard mentioned it. You have to get it right.
Mr Moore: Yes, I interjected with it.
MR HUMPHRIES: Mrs Grassby, if you want to draw those fine lines, it is up to you. Not only does banning X-rated videos fulfil our obligations to Australians more broadly, it also fulfils our obligations to the Canberra community. I recall opinion polls conducted on this subject by the Canberra Times and, I think, Channel 10 in the lead-up to the Assembly election, clearly showing that a majority of Canberrans opposed the continuing trade from Canberra in X-rated videos.
I have received many letters on this subject. I know members opposite are quick to denigrate the people who write such letters as having pointed heads. I think they do a disservice to the truth when they make that kind of observation. Many decent people have written and signed those letters. Many ordinary, decent Australians are concerned by that material being available and coming from the ACT. I also am concerned. This is not a decision for just the ACT; it is one for all of Australia, and indeed most of Australia has already made its decision and expects us to go along with that.
I want to deal with two things raised by Ms Follett in the course of her remarks. She said, very curiously, that the ALP team opposes in principle any restriction on the right of adults to see or read what they want. She said that the ALP would oppose any limitation on that right. I do not think that is really the position of the ALP at all. I have said this before, and I will say it again. I am sure that members opposite and everybody in this chamber would agree that we must have censorship in some form. We must censor child pornography. We must censor bestiality. There are things that we must censor. I agree with Ms Maher. We must censor, in due course, R-rated material which is excessively violent. I agree with Ms Follett in that regard. But the question then becomes not whether we censor but where we draw the line. We all agree that there should be that kind of censorship. The question is: where do we draw the line?
Ms Follett: It is a question of principle.
MR HUMPHRIES: The principle does not stand up, Ms Follett. Either we have a principle that we do not ban or we have a principle that we do ban. The question is: where do we ban? That is the issue, not whether we do or do not support the right of adults to see what they want.
The other issue raised by Ms Follett was in connection with women. She contested the right of others in this debate - men in particular - to speak for women. She has claimed in the past and again tonight, I think, to be the Assembly's leading spokesperson for women, but I think it has to be
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