Well, bugger me with a fish fork. Australia’s Eros Association – which is supposed to be the lobby group for the adult industry here – seems to be perfectly OK with the government’s plan to ban Aborigines from owning porn.
The racially dubious laws make it illegal to own adult material in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory and they come into effect today. If you own more than 5 DVDs or magazines you’re considered to be a “trafficker.” These rules have ostensibly been put in place to stop child abuse, something I’m pretty dubious about. It essentially says that using porn turns you into a child molester – but only if you’re an aboriginal man who lives in the Northern Territory.
So you’d think the industry lobby would have something to say about this. After all, they’ve stood up to such censorship in the past. But apparently not, if this article from a Murdoch media outlet is to be believed.
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“Foxtel R rated channel is still by far the major source of porn going into communities and unfortunately the Federal Government hasn’t turned that stream off yet, (my emphasis)” said Robbie Swan from the Eros Foundation, an adult entertainment industry lobby group.
“The minister is aware of it but he’s finding it difficult to deal with it because big business owns that.”
What the…?
Mr Swan puts the boot into a legal R-rated channel and is also happy to point out that “rogue traders were still operating from Darwin post office boxes, selling unclassified and pirated x-rated films.” And he says all this with the implicit suggestion that the government rules haven’t gone far enough; that they need to do MORE censoring.
Perhaps these quotes have been taken out of context, especially if you consider that he’s having a go at Foxtel, which is also owned by Rupert Murdoch. But what it really looks like is that he’s more interested in putting a stop to bootleg sellers of X-rated material in the NT, something which is obviously cutting into the profits of the adult stores his association represents.
I gotta say, I’m disappointed. The Eros Association is unfortunately the lone voice speaking out for adult entertainment in this country and they’re all we’ve got. Surveys have shown that the majority of Australians are OK with adult material, but the average joe is extremely hesitant to stand up in public and say it should be legal for everyone. Nobody wants to put their hand up and say they’re a wanker, after all.
I’m not a member of Eros, which perhaps means I shouldn’t be criticising them too hard. I haven’t joined because their membership fees for webmasters are ridiculously high, especially given they do nothing at all for online businesses. And Swan’s comments here are definitely not going to make me feel more inclined to support them.
I mean, it sounds an awful lot like collaborating with the enemy to protect one’s turf, don’t you think? And given that it didn’t take long for the conservatives to start talking about banning all porn, it seems pretty foolish to be giving an inch, no matter what the circumstances.
The sad thing is that Australia should have a new government by the end of this year, if the polls are correct, but the Labor party are just as prudish as the Liberals. We’re heading down the US path where politicians pander to a vocal religious minority and sexual freedoms go by the wayside. Worse still, we don’t even have a Bill of Rights guaranteeing freedom of speech so this kind of censorship is perfectly legal.
It’s depressing, it really is.
Previous posts:
Proposed Ban On Aborigines Watching X-Rated Porn
More Calls for Censorship in Australia
Sex Panics and “Protecting The Children”
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