26 August 1996
The Films and Publications Bill returns to the Chamber this week after amendment by the Home Affairs Portfolio Committee. The Bill defends freedom of expression and freedom of choice, but it also improves the protection of children against pornography and focuses on the protection of women against both degradation and violent sexual abuse.
The Main Points of the Bill
The Films and Publications Bill provides for a new Board of Films and Publications and:
The Bill exempts bona fide literary, dramatic, documentary, scientific and art works. Art works which contain photographs of child sex and a lewd display of nude children are not exempted.
Material which falls outside the delineated areas would either be free of restriction or subject to the general age restrictions and classifications.
The licensing of adult outlets would be the responsibility of local authorities, and local residents would be allowed to make representations to the authorities on their location.
In order to defend freedom of speech, material advocating hatred based on race, ethnicity or gender will remain a matter for the courts, under the Bill of Rights. The Films and Publications Board will be authorised to ban the distribution of material advocating hatred based on religion which incites harm. Newspapers and television are not covered by the Bill; but are separately regulated.
Films and Publications Board
The proposed Films and Publications Board will be responsible for:
The Board's hearings would be open to the public and its decisions could be challenged in appeal to a Review Board and to the Supreme Court.
Improvements on Current Legislation
The new Bill is a major improvement on current (and past) legislation.
It focuses on material which constitutes incitement to cause harm.
It defends freedom of speech, freedom of choice and privacy, where these do not cause harm, by restricting the powers of regulators to intervening only where complaints are made.
It eliminates confusion by specifying precisely what material is prohibited, rather than prohibiting material on vague criteria such as 'indecent', 'obscene' or 'offensive'.
It removes restricted material from general distribution by providing for licensed adult premises.
It improves democratic accountability by giving local authorities powers to regulate licensed adult premises and local residents a say in where these premises should be located.
It improves democratic justice by allowing for a system of appeals.
ANC Key Lines
The Film and Publications Bill which will be debated this week has been strengthened considerably by the many ANC amendments in Home Affairs Portfolio Committee.
The ANC amendments extend the protection of children against their exposure to pornography.
The ANC amendments prohibit the broadcasting of XX material.
The ANC amendments extend the prohibition on XX material to import and production.
The ANC amendments extend the prohibition on child pornography to written material.
The ANC amendments remove the artistic exemption for child pornography.
The ANC amendments extend the prohibition to material which amounts to propaganda for war, incites imminent violence or advocates hatred based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion.
The ANC amendments extend prohibition to the import, production and distribution of sexually-explicit material which degrades a person and constitutes incitement to cause harm.
The ANC amendments increase maximum imprisonment for offences from two to five years.