Page 3439 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 September 1991
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I agree with the comments made by Mr Moore. If the ACT votes to ban the availability of X-rated videos, I simply do not believe that the industry will be eliminated. That has been demonstrated quite clearly in New South Wales, Victoria and, indeed, the other States of Australia. People who suggest that X-rated material is not available in Sydney or Melbourne or Adelaide or Perth are simply living with their heads in the sand. As Mr Moore pointed out, invariably the operators in this industry, who are quite clearly breaking the laws and regulations of their own States, work on the basis that if they are going to be hung for a lamb they may as well be hung for a sheep.
The unclassified material, which has clearly been banned and which I am fairly confident is simply not available in our regulated and liberal industry here in the ACT - the stuff that should be banned, the stuff that portrays all the abhorrent things such as child pornography, violent sexual assault and other things - is then made available. The operator thinks, "I may as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb. If I am going to provide these things, I may as well get the stuff that is illegal as well, because I am operating illegally in providing X-rated material, anyway".
There are literally hundreds of thousands of videotapes available right throughout the ACT community and the Australian community. The banning of them will have absolutely no effect on their availability. All it will do is add a black market value to them. They will become a sought after item and people will try to make undue profits out of them. I am sure that the best solution to the X-rated video problem is regulation rather than total banning. Prohibition simply does not work; regulation does.
It is unfortunate that the imposition of a 40 per cent tax on our industry in the ACT is sending the industry broke. The authorities in New South Wales and Victoria, in particular, will take no action against illegal operators in their own territory, who are able to provide illegal uncopyrighted copies. They are able to produce them; they have no compulsion whatsoever to follow copyright laws, let alone our taxation laws. They produce copies, and I have seen the covers of illegal banned videos which are available from Sydney wholesalers right now for $10 per tape.
The legal industry in the ACT simply cannot compete with that, for the simple reason that they pay copyright, they pay the appropriate taxes, and they want to keep their legal status. Indeed, in hindsight, I share the views of Mr Moore. The 40 per cent tax was a clear mistake on my part as Minister for Finance, and if I had my time over I would not bring it in at 40 per cent. I would still impose a tax, but I would not bring it in at 40 per cent. I would
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