Carter David: Films Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Carter David: Films Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:615;Page:11470] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 Having sat through the debate earlier before the dinner break I rise to support the Films Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Bill being referred to the Government Administration Committee as do my National Party colleagues. I have decided to take a call to offer congratulations both to the Government and to the speaker who has just resumed her seat because having sat through about 2 hours of this debate it was great to finally see a Labour Government member stand enthusiastically and speak with a bit of passion about this legislation. Prior to the dinner break members were taking very short calls—very short calls indeed. I can recall Mr Mark Peck taking about a minute to support this legislation which is Government legislation and good legislation. We would expect there to be some enthusiasm from Labour members— 
Peter Brown 
: I think someone touched a nerve. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Somebody may have touched a nerve in the previous speaker. The point is that she stood and passionately spoke in support of this legislation and I also passionately support it. 
I want to offer my congratulations to the Government because it has acknowledged the 1993 Act now needs updating. That is not because there are faults with the legislation passed in 1993 but because as my good colleague Judith Collins pointed out to the House the ever-advancing technology in this area means that the legislation passed in 1993 to ban the proliferation of pornography is now becoming more and more outdated given the ever-increasing use of things like the Internet. So I say it is good on the Government for advancing this legislation. Let us hope we can get it through the Government Administration Committee as quickly as possible. 
Dianne Yates 
: And a very good committee that is too. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: It is a very good committee—very well chaired. In fact I sat on that committee a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed my time on it so it will be a good select committee to process this legislation. 
One of the things that worry me when I read this legislation is the element of double standards. Government members appear to acknowledge the hideousness of child pornography. Yet when I look at this legislation I do not see anything to combat what is now a dreadful problem in Christchurch of young people—13 14 and 15-year-olds—standing on the streets and selling themselves as prostitutes. Now prostitution was legalised by this Parliament not so long ago under the guise of a member’s bill but Government members were whipped by the Prime Minister to make sure that the bill narrowly passed. I remember taking calls during that debate. Exactly the same problems that we are now facing in Christchurch—I think they have probably been given publicity there; the Christchurch  
Press  
has given them a lot of emphasis over the last couple of weeks—are probably happening in other cities as well I tell Jill Pettis. I think that it is sad— 
Jill Pettis 
: Answer my question: what about the buyers of the services? 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: The fires of the service? I think the member means the buyers of the service. They are vile—absolutely! 
Jill Pettis 
: The buyers. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: No she is trying to say the buyers of the services of those child prostitutes. Prostitution is a vile habit and if the member had bothered to read the Saturday edition of the Christchurch  
Press  
she would have seen I made that comment publicly in that paper. The buyers are the very people who should be exposed so I completely support that. The member nods her head. It would be interesting to know whether she supported the passing of the legislation that legalised prostitution. 
Richard Worth 
: She did. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I think she did. That very legislation now means we have the problem of child prostitution on the streets of Christchurch. I bet it is also happening on the streets of Wellington and Auckland. 
Jill Pettis 
: I bet it has never happened before in the history of mankind! 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: I tell the member that it has happened before; we all know that. But because that member voted for the legislation that legalised prostitution she has now given prostitution a status as a career choice and it was inevitable that we would have this problem. 
I wonder as this bill goes before the excellent select committee whether there is not an opportunity for the committee to consider the issue I have raised. It is something that worries a lot of people in Christchurch. I can see Marc Alexander nodding his head in agreement with me. It was interesting to see that in the newspaper reports on Saturday that I referred to we had comments by Clayton Cosgrove David Carter and Gerry Brownlee—all of whom were quoted as National members of Parliament. It is pretty important that I take this opportunity to clarify for the benefit of listeners from Christchurch that Clayton Cosgrove is certainly not a National Party member of Parliament. [ 
Interruption 
] He is very Labour at the moment. I can imagine why he would want to jump ship but we do not want him. 
So I take this opportunity to point out that there is a problem with child pornography. It is rife in Christchurch because of the passing of legislation that I certainly did not support. Let us hope that when the chair of the select committee gets this bill before her committee she gives some thought to that issue. If Parliament made a mistake last year with the passing of Tim Barnett’s bill it should have the gumption to revisit the issue. I am not the only one speaking in this way. A lot of people in Christchurch are horrified at the passing of that legislation so let us hope that Dianne Yates will take the opportunity to consider that. 
As I said earlier it is with pleasure that I support this bill going to the select committee. Let us hope it is back in the House before too long ready for enactment.