Page 5048 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 27 November 1991
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pornography in this Territory an offence. That is something of a departure from the existing controls on such publications contained in the ACT's main censorship law, the Publications Control Act of 1989.
The scheme of that Act is more specific, being an attack essentially on the trade in pornographic material, a fairly severe ban on the sale, distribution and hire of unclassified publications. It is abundantly clear that any publication which depicts in pictorial form a child who is apparently under the age of 16 engaging in sexual activity or otherwise in a manner that is likely to cause offence to a person is an unclassifiable publication. So, child pornography is currently dealt with quite severely by the law in the ACT. The current provisions carry a penalty of $2,000 or imprisonment for 12 months.
Mr Humphries: It is for selling, though, is it not?
MR CONNOLLY: It is for selling or distributing. This Bill goes somewhat further and bans possession. I am advised that it is not entirely necessary to do that; but, on the other hand, given the general community abhorrence of child pornography, and given particularly some of the refinements that Mr Collaery is proposing in his amendments, I can see no reason why this Assembly ought not pass such a law.
I note that in the Classification of Films and Publications Act of Victoria, the Video Tapes Classification and Control Act of Western Australia and the Censorship of Films Act of Queensland, in each of those three jurisdictions, the mere possession of what is loosely called child pornography is made an offence. So, I see no difficulty in our going down that path.
The Bill in its original form was fraught with a number of potential problems because of the likelihood of a person being innocently in possession - the postal worker who is distributing a brown paper package, transport workers, persons who obtain a lawful publication which may depict persons whose age is indeterminate, and the like. They were some potential difficulties with the original proposal; but I note that Mr Collaery, in the amendments that he proposes to move and has circulated, has provided that a person must be knowingly in possession. That covers the innocent possession of the postal worker or the transport worker position.
He is providing a proposed defence to a prosecution that the defendant reasonably believed that the person depicted or otherwise represented as a young person was not under the age of 16 years. He is picking up there on the objection that a person could be in some confusion and reasonably believe that it was an adult or a lawful publication. So, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, on this question of possession of child pornography, the Government sees no reason to oppose Mr Collaery's suggestion in its amended and refined form.
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