Hide Rodney: Films Videos and Publications Classification  Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Hide Rodney: Films Videos and Publications Classification  Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:623;Page:18643] 
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 It is with some sadness that we rise to speak on this part because nothing would please the ACT party more than to vote for this bill. It is time that we got tough on those who would exploit young children sexually and it is time that we toughened up on the penalties. In fact one of our MPs Deborah Coddington has been most strident on those issues and we are pleased that the Minister has seen the sense of the Supplementary Order Paper Deborah Coddington was going to move and has adopted it as a Government Supplementary Order Paper and the legislation has been improved as a consequence. 
But the ACT party finds that it cannot support this legislation overall. Because buried inside this legislation is an attack on free speech and the understandable care and concern we have for young people is being used to do something quite different. I draw the Committee’s attention to new section (1B) in clause 40(3) which talks about “objectionable publication” and that is the difficulty we have with this bill. I ask the Committee to consider this. We might not agree with a video that suggests to young people that homosexual behaviour is not a good idea. I do not agree with such a video. However I do not believe that the chief censor should be in a position to ban that video. Under this legislation he will be able to. Marc Alexander can shake his head. Clearly he has not read the legislation because that is precisely what will happen under this legislation. I draw his attention to the bits that will do it. A new provision in Part 1—new section 3B(4)(c) in clause 4A—states that it will be able to ban anything that encourages persons to treat or regard themselves others or both as degraded or dehumanised or demeaned. I tell Mr Alexander that that is precisely the point. I draw his attention to clause 4B “Transitional provision” where subclause (3) makes it retrospective for the precise purpose of banning the Living Word Distributors Ltd video. That is exactly what that clause is for. 
Marc Alexander 
: Rubbish! 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Oh well he can shake his head but I tell him that that is exactly right. I draw the attention of the Minister the Hon Phil Goff to new section 3D in clause 4A. When he was attacking Mr Franks he talked a lot about the gateway provisions. That clause actually overwhelms the gateway provisions. I know that I should be talking about Part 2 but we did not get any opportunity on this side of the Committee to talk about Part 1 and when I see “objectionable publication” I am drawn back to that. I say this: just because we disagree with something and just because we find something objectionable that is no reason to ban it. There is a lot of speech that I hear in this Chamber that I find objectionable. I hear a lot of speech in this Chamber that I find highly offensive for being ignorant for failing to understand economics and for failing to grasp wider world realities. I do not want that speech banned. 
So there is a lot of material that we find highly offensive. I say to Marc Alexander that he is voting for a bill that will actually undermine free speech in this Chamber. 
Marc Alexander 
: No it won’t that’s fiction. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: He is so confident that it will not. I am telling him. Does he remember— 
Marc Alexander 
: I do not believe you Mr Hide. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Oh he does not believe me. Well he does not need to believe me actually he should just watch it happen. Just remember what the chief censor tried to do to the Living Word video. I did not agree with that video. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Clem Simich) 
: Could the member come back to Part 2 please. 
RODNEY HIDE 
: Yes I am talking about Part 2 exactly. I am talking about offensive publications. What one person sees as offensive is another person’s educational material. I tell Mr Alexander that I am not talking about child porn and that member can blind himself to that and Government members can blind themselves to that. We heard from Dianne Yates exactly what this bill was about. We say it is a shame that the Minister allowed himself to take the genuine concern of those in this Committee who want to clamp down on the child pornographers and use it to ban offensive publications and offensive language—things that we might consider dehumanise people—and therefore overturn free speech.