Page 5051 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 27 November 1991
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Mr Jensen: Yes. It should be on your desk, Mr Connolly.
MR CONNOLLY: I have not seen it. I now see something scribbled out here - "omit 'article or substance'.". I see, it now relates purely to an X-rated film. People have a good idea in the bath or shower, they propose it in private members' business and we are supposed to legislate on it. It is really a very unsatisfactory way of going about government business.
Mr Jensen: Nearly as good as your penalties that first day.
MADAM TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Jensen, order, please! Mr Jensen, would you please stop doing that. Also, when a member or a Minister is on his feet while papers are being delivered it is a bit hard to read them, Mr Jensen. I think you should think a little bit about that before you make those comments.
Mr Jensen: I will remember that, Mrs Grassby, when you are interjecting.
MR CONNOLLY: In fact, I seem to have two pieces of paper on my desk. So, we have the Bill, we have the amendment to the Bill, we have the amendment to the amendment to the Bill, and we seem to have the amendment to the amendment to the amendment to the Bill - a very logical way to go about legislating!
Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it now seems that we have retreated one step further from that original all-encompassing provision to the amendment which was the general prohibition of transmitting articles generally interstate to a scribbled out amendment. We are not quite to the back of an envelope stage, but we have two scribbled out amendments which seem to retreat yet further to limit this simply to X-rated videos. If a State wishes to ban the possession of X-rated videos within its borders, any State parliament can do that. We have no difficulty with that.
Mr Duby: The X-rated business here is 90 per cent selling through the mail.
MR CONNOLLY: The X-rated business is 90 per cent selling here. I do not see why we ought to prohibit a person from sending out of this Territory something that is lawful here. That is a matter for other States to legislate on. The principal objection that we have remains. Our criminal law, what is criminal or not criminal in this Territory, should not depend on the state of the law beyond our borders.
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