Kevin Lingard
Qld State
Member of Parliament
National Party
Electorate: Beaudesert
Picked up on the campaign by the Religious Right to ban the film BIRTH.
Queensland 51ST PARLIAMENT
WEDNESDAY, 9 MARCH 2005
CRIMINAL CODE (CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND ABUSE) AMENDMENT BILL
Second Reading
Resumed from 24 November 2004 (see p. 3742).
Hon. KR LINGARD (Beaudesert—NPA) (4.59 pm): ......Another concern that the opposition has with these defences relates to the Commonwealth-state classification system for films, computer games et cetera. Generally this system seems to have been working at a standard that has general community acceptance. However, every so often something seems to slip through the system that arguably does not reflect reasonable community values. One recent example of concern is the film Birth, which is alleged to contain certain depictions of an actress in a potentially sexually compromising situation with a 10-year-old boy. Under the classification system that operates, there is a mechanism to have the initial classification reviewed at the request of the relevant minister. The Leader of the Opposition says that he hoped Minister Keech would react favourably to the requests that he has passed on to have the classification of this film reviewed in order to ensure that material that potentially involves the sexual exploitation of children does not seep through the system, thus lowering acceptable community standards. However, from letters he has seen that the minister has sent to citizens who have written to her, it seems that the minister is adopting the common standard of ministers in this area and refusing to utilise the review mechanism that the Commonwealth state classification system has built into it.
The Leader of the Opposition asks why the minister is allowing what is arguably sexual child exploitation material to be displayed in this film. Does she think that suggestions of sexual relations in films between adult females and young males represent acceptable community standards? Why is the minister refusing to utilise the relevant appeal mechanism to have the initial classification reviewed? Is this another example of a hands-off approach by a minister of the government?
