Page 1267 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 24 April 1990
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Dr Kinloch said, "Let the Commonwealth decide what the level of censorship in this country should be, and let all the States adhere to it". To my way of thinking, his argument falls flat. The Commonwealth has decided, and this Territory, for one, adheres to what the Commonwealth says.
You, Mr Speaker, came down and gave us the benefit of a very anecdotal speech. Frankly, Mr Speaker, I do not think there were many good arguments in your speech - none whatsoever, to be honest. I think the line that we must ban X-rated videos because our sons will be titillated went out with the ark. You argued that our boys will be gaoled because they are titillated and go out and do things to women. Our sons will be gaoled if they are rapists; they will not be gaoled if they are titillated. They will be gaoled if they commit an offence called rape. I think we have proved that having X-rated videos does not lead to an increase in rape.
You also called Canberra the porno capital of South East Asia. You have never been to Bangkok, Mr Speaker. I think I have demonstrated that all this material, which you are saying is bringing down life in the ACT, is freely available in every State. Frankly, Mr Speaker, I was amazed when you called for our children to enjoy literature along the lines of Black Beauty, a book which I am sure is banned in South Africa. I am sure also, Mr Speaker, that that idea of censorship is the sort of thing that you are trying to introduce into the ACT. I, for one, do not stand for it.
Mr Jensen said, "Let's call a spade a spade. We are talking about hard-core pornography, not non-violent erotica". For goodness' sake, so are we. Why does changing its name from "non-violent erotica" to "hard-core pornography" make it any different? It does not. Hard-core pornography, though, does portray the level of classifications which have been banned by the Commonwealth censor. Increases in sex crimes occurred long before videos were available. He complained about there being no literary merit. Does that mean that we should ban Neighbours and E Street? I will not go on.
There are other things here, too. Mrs Nolan says that, even though it does not work elsewhere, we should adopt it anyway; at least that will make it uniform. I do not accept that argument. She also said that X-rated movies cannot be shown in cinemas. They can. She said she thinks women's groups would not approve. Do they or do they not? I honestly do not know. She said that, when it comes to children obtaining X-rated material, it is up to parents to exercise responsibility. Once again, Mr Humphries said the same thing. I must point out to Mr Humphries that the fines applicable to children getting access to X-rated material are ludicrously small. We need to make this Publications Control Act an effective piece of legislation. When there are comprehensive national laws in place which
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