Page 1684 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 30 April 1991
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to the face of any business manager if their business was run on a cash on delivery basis. Most business operators would find it hard to believe their good fortune if they had a business where the customer paid for their goods even before they had been delivered. This is, however, the basis on which the mail-order pornography businesses operate.
We should understand that the profit margins in pornographic X-rated videos are high, while the production costs are low. We should also not forget the fact that the pornographers can and do operate from low-cost premises. As a fair proportion of their business is done on a cash basis, the scope for failing to declare income is high. While it is not unusual that pornographers should try to convince us that they are on hard times, it would indeed be unusual if we believed them.
Tonight I wish to demonstrate how crimes are committed under the very noses of our authorities and how they are aided and abetted by professional people in the fields of law, banking and accountancy. These crimes involve tax evasion and the falsification of records. They are committed by criminals who use these white collar activities to make tax-free money, to launder illicit funds, and to give an air of respectability to their many other illegal activities.
I will show how pornographers can lay a paper trail to evade taxes and their corporate responsibilities and I will present the details and documents relating to one such case, over which no charges have yet been laid. With regard to video pornography in Australia, the earliest traced example, as outlined by the Costigan investigators, is that of a Melbourne man, George Strinzos, former proprietor of a business called Intercontinental 8 mm Film Hire who imported eight-millimetre pornographic films from Charlie Brown Productions in Germany. Strinzos then supplied some of those films to Dinasal Pty Ltd, a company operated by the late media magnate, Max Newton.
Mr Connolly: Mr Speaker, Mr Stevenson was given leave to speak on white collar crime. He seems to be speaking about pornography, which probably involves no collar at all. There is a question of relevance here, and we are getting shirty.
MR SPEAKER: I do not uphold your objection, Mr Connolly. Mr Stevenson, please proceed.
MR STEVENSON: Banking records show that Strinzos operated an account with the Westpac Bank at 399 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, and that drafts were drawn on that account, remitting funds overseas in payment for pornographic films. This shows that, even before the convenience of the video cassette recorder, people were willing to pay premium prices for pornography from overseas sources.
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