Page 2083 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 5 June 1990
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constitutional powers to impose a business franchise scheme.
I would also like to clarify something for the record. When moving my amendment to clause 7, I gave as the reason for that amendment that we sought to ensure the prompt return of the amended licence to the licensee and to provide consistency of approach with clause 8(3). That provision is subject to a misprint and the clause which I was trying to provide consistency with was clause 8(2). So having set the record straight there, I would like to say that the Government opposes the last-ditch filibustering attempt by Mr Stevenson to insert a backhanded ban on X-rated videos.
MR MOORE (10.30): Mr Speaker, I am concerned about the suggestion by Mr Stevenson to substitute 400 per cent for the 40 per cent. Whilst I recognise his interest in doing so, my concern is that now that we have established the X-rated industry as a legal business within the ACT - - -
Mr Duby: It always has been.
MR MOORE: It always has been, you are quite right, but we have confirmed it, I guess, by some of our actions. It is quite clear that members who have supported this Bill or who have voted again and again to defeat Mr Stevenson's attempts have been concerned to distinguish between non-violent erotica and violent erotica. It would seem to me that this proposal would further increase the chances of driving this industry underground and bringing about the publication and distribution of the material that we are most concerned about. I refer to the material that combines both violence and erotica. For me and for many people in Canberra violence is of far greater concern than erotica. I am concerned about the notion of the combination of violence and erotica, which is what is distributed when such an industry goes underground. For that reason I now move as an amendment to Mr Stevenson's amendments:
Omit "40%" wherever occurring and substitute "20%".
In proposing this amendment I am very much aware of Mr Duby's notion that at this stage tobacco is charged at 35 per cent. What has happened with tobacco is that, apart from community attitudes, there has been a tighter and tighter taxing of tobacco products, which I think is quite right. The evidence is very clear about the damage that they do to people's health and the number of people that they kill.
In this particular instance, though, let me draw Mr Duby's attention to the fact that the tobacco taxation has been graded and has been introduced bit by bit. I have no objection to the X-rated industry being taxed 40 per cent, but I would like to see that being done stage by stage.
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