Page 2310 - Week 08 - Thursday, 7 June 1990
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I think it is worth while to look at the consequences of introducing a taxation that the majority of Alliance members believed would legitimise X-rated videos. The consequences are very clear. In 1978, the magazine Psychology Today indicated a study entitled "Sex and aggression proving the link". It was a 10-year, ad hoc study by various people around the world, criminologists, psychologists and police, conducted from 1964 to 1974. The study showed that where you have restrictions on pornography you get a decrease in rape. In Japan it went down 49 per cent when restrictions on pornography were introduced - down by nearly half.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Stevenson, I mention relevance again. You are not addressing the question.
MR STEVENSON: Mr Speaker, I suggest that the consequences of an action are very relevant, to say the least.
Mr Jensen: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I draw your attention to standing order 48 in relation to a right of reply. It says that the reply shall be confined to matters raised during the debate. I would suggest that Mr Stevenson should not be introducing any more new material.
MR SPEAKER: That point is valid, Mr Jensen. Please proceed to the point, Mr Stevenson.
MR STEVENSON: Mr Speaker, we were told today by members of the Alliance that the whole debate was not important. What can be more important than the matter of integrity, than the matter of confidence? As I said, I gained no joy from introducing a matter of no confidence in the Chief Minister. I believe the Chief Minister would well know that. It certainly was not done as a matter of publicity. It is vital that we have people who maintain high standards in this Assembly, for if such standards are not attained in this Assembly where in the community are they to be attained? If we do not set an example in this Assembly, how can we look to others to set an example or to obey the law?
Many years ago a well known prophet from Nazareth in Galilee said, "What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet to lose his soul?". What we need in this Assembly is people with the courage to stand up and fight for what they believe is right, regardless of whether there are one, two or more people around them who are pushing for something else. We should not bow to the wishes of other people. We should stand and indeed fight until we achieve that which we know the people want and that which we in our hearts believe. We must have a situation where our consciences are validated.
I think that perhaps a message for the video industry would be relevant. Perhaps with the defeat of the Bill to ban X-rated videos or the introduction of the money Bills - what
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