Page 3425 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 September 1991
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of the half-truth, of telling half the story. Mr Berry is very good at that, and that is what we have seen once again this morning, with some very selective quoting. There were no concrete examples of the point he tried to make. It is a cheap debating trick which would probably have been laughed out of court in any debate at high school level.
Let me now turn to a related issue, and I am now talking about the R-rated material that is readily available in our video stores. I am concerned about some of the gratuitous violence that is available in our society. In some respects it could be argued that that sort of material is probably just as, if not more, damaging to our society. There is sufficient evidence, I believe, to indicate that people who watch violent movies often participate in violent acts against other people in the community. As far as I am aware, in the recent tragedy in Sydney the gentleman involved was not into pornographic movies, as has been suggested by some, but he was an advocate of very violent movies. That is the sort of thing I am talking about, and that is why we have to look very carefully at that issue.
The Rally has called on a number of occasions for the Commonwealth Chief Censor to do his job and relook at the whole category of R-rated movies and other material with a view to making some distinction between violent material and material that just contains foul language, for example, or implied sexual acts without the sort of activity that we see fully portrayed in X-rated movies.
Ms Follett: Speak for yourself.
MR JENSEN: Ms Follett, I am not quite sure what you mean by "Speak for yourself". You seem to be suggesting that it is okay to watch that sort of stuff.
Ms Follett: All I am saying is that you said that you were seeing it. I have not watched it.
MR JENSEN: Maybe that is one of the problems. Maybe if you had watched it, you would change your view. There is not much point in being a legislator and coming into this place and voting on an issue when you have not looked at the material people are talking about. How narrow-minded can you get? Have a look at it. See what you are talking about before you make judgments, which is what we have across the table from us here today.
It is on that basis that we see once again the hypocrisy of the group opposite in that they are prepared to indicate that, by the nature of our society, there will be some need for censorship, but only when it suits them. They are not prepared even to look at the material we are talking about today.
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