Page 5504 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 4 December 1991

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Mr Connolly: What about all the others?

MR COLLAERY: The previous amendments circulated are withdrawn, of course, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: So, just to clarify it further for members, it would appear that we now have one circulated sheet of amendments. All the others have been withdrawn. Is that correct?

MR COLLAERY: One sheet - all the others can go into the waste bin.

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I take the point that the Attorney makes, and I apologise for the convoluted manner in which these amendments have been presented. I am indebted to Mr Ken Crispin of queen's counsel for assisting to point out a number of anomalies in the original Bill, in particular the need to put in a provision, for a person charged with possession of pornographic material, to provide for the defence that he or she reasonably believed that the person depicted was not a young person. The Director of Public Prosecutions also pointed out a number of issues that led us to insert the "knowingly" provision as well.

On the question of interstate offences, the Director of Public Prosecutions pointed out - and I would have anticipated that the Attorney, by virtue of his law advice, would also have pointed this out - the unintended effects of this provision. I accept that that provision fails, and I accept that, at best, it can be reduced to rendering it an offence to transmit an X-film interstate or interterritory, knowing that possession is banned in that State or Territory. That is the upshot of my amendments. At this stage, no State or Territory, to our knowledge, bans possession, apart from an indistinct clause in Western Australia which has not been enforced. So, I formally move those amendments.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, Mr Collaery; we have to take them in order.

Clauses agreed to.

Proposed new clause 2A

Amendment (by Mr Collaery) proposed:

Page 1, line 9, after clause 2, insert the following new clause:

"2A. Clause 4 of the principal Act is amended by inserting the following definition:

'"X-film" has the same meaning as in the Publications Control Act 1989.'.".


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