WA moves to ensure uniform national censorship laws

18/1/02
The State Government is moving to overhaul Western Australia's outdated censorship laws to bring Western Australia into line with other States.
Attorney General Jim McGinty said legislation would be introduced next month to make WA a full participant in the National Co-operative Censorship Scheme (NCCS), putting an end to years of Commonwealth-State duplication.
At present, WA participates in the national scheme for film and computer game classifications but conducts its own separate assessments for books and magazines.
"This bizarre situation is a total waste of resources," Mr McGinty said.
"Abolishing the WA Censorship Advisory Committee, which simply duplicates the work undertaken by the Commonwealth for other States, will save around $27,500 a year.
"It will also end a frustrating and costly administrative problem for the publications industry, which currently has to tag some publications sold in WA with different classifications to otherwise identical books and magazines sold elsewhere in Australia.
"The changes to WA legislation will finally allow uniform national censorship laws, with the Commonwealth able to determine all classifications right across Australia."
Mr McGinty said WA would also relinquish powers - not used in almost a decade - to set aside or vary Commonwealth classifications relating to films and computer games.
The powers were last used in 1993 to ban the Italian film Salo, which was later also banned by the Commonwealth. Mr McGinty said the WA powers were clearly obsolete.
"The Commonwealth is well able to deal with censorship issues and I see no point in WA setting itself apart from other States," he said.
As a participant in the national scheme, WA can request the Federal Attorney General to review a Commonwealth classification if there are concerns with a decision.
Other changes in the legislation include:

• introducing infringement notices for minor offences, such as failing to display a notice of film classification. At present, all offences must be prosecuted through the courts, which can tie up police and court resources;

• administrative changes to streamline enforcement procedures, particularly where multiple products are seized from the same premises; and

• the creation of a new and separate offence for the supply of 'X' or 'RC' (refused classification) materials to minors. While WA laws contain specific offences for people who sell or supply 'R' films, there is no specific offence at present for the supply of an 'X' or 'RC' film to a minor.