Censorship in Australia - Recent Controversies

Recent Controversies

Heated debates about classification occur on occasions. Since 1995, a total of five films and two books have been banned.

In regard to books, controversy erupted in early 2007, when the Attorney General banned on appeal Dr Philip Nitschke's voluntary euthanasia guide book The Peaceful Pill Handbook. Published in the US, the book is now banned in Australia. Changes in 2001 to the Australian Customs Act means that it is also illegal to import the book into Australia. The recent plans of the Australian government to block the book's website has seen the euthanasia activist Nitschke embark on a national tour of "Hacking Masterclasses" aimed at teaching the book's readers how to circumvent the planned government internet filter.

In regard to films, a notable example is Pasolini's Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, which has twice been banned in Australia, and finally granted approval in April 2010. The Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor, asked the Classification Review Board to reassess the decision, however, the review failed to find any fault in the classification, and the film was released in September 2010.

Starting in 2000 with the film Romance, a new crop of arthouse films that feature short scenes of actual sex have begun to attract closer scrutiny and in two controversial cases have been banned. The two banned films are:

• Baise-moi, a French film about two prostitutes who take violent revenge after being raped, and
• Ken Park, an American film about teenagers that features a scene of autoerotic asphyxiation, amongst other sexually explicit scenes. The ban however is actually due to exploitative sexual depiction of minors, which is a criminal offence in Australia. In response to the ban, a protest screening was held which was shut down by the police.

Baise-moi was originally given an R18+ classification by the OFLC, however, this was overturned by the OFLC Classification Review Board some 6 months later after the Attorney General of the time, Daryl William, used his powers under Section 42(1)(a) of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995. to request a Review of the classification.

The banning of Ken Park has attracted considerable media attention and political protest. Prominent movie reviewer Margaret Pomeranz, former host of The Movie Show on SBS and now host of At the Movies on ABC, was arrested (and later cautioned and released) along with several others after attempting to screen at a hall what she described as "a wonderful film".

Tom Gleisner, host of The Panel (a prime-time comedy/panel discussion show), openly stated on the show that he had downloaded and watched the film. Former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr stated that he thought the banning of Ken Park and other films is inappropriate, and his Attorney-General Bob Debus would discuss changing the laws with other state Attorneys-General at a then upcoming meeting.

In 1992, Island World Communications Ltd and Manga Entertainment Australia Ltd had Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend submitted to the OFLC. It was the first animated feature to be banned in Australia and the feature was banned outright like the Violence Jack OVAs which were also released by Manga Entertainment Australia and Polygram Australia. Urotsukidoji was then censored to meet the OFLC's standards. The Australian version is the most censored in the western world, with many fans of anime importing uncensored versions of Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend from the UK. The rest of the Urotsukidoji series was censored in Australia, with many still importing or downloading the American versions.

In 1997, the former Attorney – General Phillip Ruddock had the OFLC review Manga Video Australia's, Ninja Scroll. It was originally released in 1994 in Australia by Manga Entertainment Ltd. Australia and had the MA15+ rating on the VHS originally, but this was overturned in 1997 when Phillip Ruddock had the anime reviewed and banned in Australia after an uncut screening of the movie on SBS. A few months later it was given the R18+ rating and was uncut, then edited and edited again, eventually using the BBFC cut of Ninja Scroll. This was overturned in 2003 when Madman Entertainment and Manga Entertainment Ltd. released the uncut version.

Violence Jack Volume 1 was banned outright, and Manga Australia and Polygram decided not to release Violence Jack in Australia.

In February 2006 Melbourne businessman Dean McVeigh attempted in court to shut down a website critical of him through a criminal contempt application, but was unsuccessful.

Starting in January 2010, customs officials have been directed by Australian federal government censors to confiscate any porn depicting female ejaculation. Such content has been deemed to be "golden showers" (an act of urinating on one's partner). However Fionna Patten, a spokesman for the Australian Sex Party has stated, "Female ejaculation has now been described in scientific literature as being as real as male ejaculation and women's ejaculate is as different from urine, as men's is."