Page 2056 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 5 June 1990
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the committee did not. These points are just disregarded by people who would like some other viewpoint to be the case. I think that highlights the situation well.
Let me tell you what happened last week in Canberra. Four Aboriginal pastors presented a letter to the Chief Minister and the Attorney-General calling for a ban on pornographic X-rated videos. Why did they do that? Was it as a result of the information that was not printed in the National Committee on Violence document? Did they get information from Judith Atkinson? No, they did not. The knowledge came from their own travels throughout Australia, working with Aboriginal communities, which is their full-time job. They called on the Chief Minister and the Attorney-General to do something about the horrendous problem that they see day after day in their work. Indeed, one of them, Cecil Grant from Albury, said, "X-rated videos are causing the genocide of our people". I wonder what Mr Connolly would say about that. Will he conveniently disregard that fact because it may not fit his other viewpoint? Indeed, Pastor Bob Brown said, "Pornographic videos are devastating Aboriginal communities, especially in remote areas".
So what does the Bill before the house do to handle this problem? Absolutely nothing. There are people here who do not concern themselves with these matters, who do not care about the violence that is being wreaked not only on the Aboriginal people but also on others throughout Australia. I and, no doubt, many other people from all around Australia who continue to write in about this matter, who continue to call for a ban on X-rated videos, know that this Bill will not have any effect at all because it will not remove a single mail-order video. They indeed, as I, wonder about the conscience of some individuals in this Assembly.
MR CONNOLLY (8.44): I did not intend to contribute to this debate this evening, but comments from my colleague Mr Berry have compelled me to do so. Mr Stevenson opposes this Bill. He says that this Bill, if passed, will do nothing to control X-rated videos. Mr Stefaniak tells the Assembly that the Liberal Party, if it had its way, would ban X-rated videos but, because that has been unsuccessful, it is tightening control.
This Bill, if passed, can in fact ban X-rated videos totally from Canberra. In order to do that, the Government has to do simply what it does best - and that is nothing. Ms Follett pointed out that, contrary to the original press announcements and contrary to what appears to be the plain reading of the explanatory memorandum, this Bill does not, on its face, restrict X-rated video sales to industrial areas of Fyshwick.
Mr Collaery is not here, but perhaps some of his advisers are, so I will tell the Assembly that what this Bill does in point of law is to make it unlawful for a person to sell an X-rated video otherwise than in a prescribed area after
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