UPDATES: February 23rd 2008 
SLAVES TO PASSION: Censored in Australia. 
Senate Estimates: Internet Filtering. 
ACMA Internet Filtering Report. 
Aboriginals denied censored porn. 
Classification Amendment Bill 2008. 

UPDATES: February 16th 2008 
DARK SECTOR: Banned in Australia 
COMING OUT BI: Banned in Australia 
CLAUDIA: Censored in Australia. 
Hardcore Sex Films in Victorian Adult Stores. 
Sexpo Belladonna Billboard Controversy. 
New Zealand Censorship 2007. 
PEACEFUL PILL HANDBOOK Censored in NZ. 
Digital PEACEFUL PILL HANDBOOK Coming Soon.

 

Australian Censorship News
23rd February 2008

SLAVES TO PASSION: Censored in Australia.

Siren Visual Entertainment censored the SLAVES TO PASSION hentai and have been awarded an R18+ (High level animated sex scenes) rating by the Classification Board. The original submission was banned in January.

 

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Senate Estimates: Internet Filtering.

Last week was Senate Estimates time in Canberra. The Government's internet filtering plans came in for scrutiny from two of the major supporters of the proposal, Family First's Stephen Fielding, and the Liberal's Guy Barnett. It was the Liberal's Senator Simon Birmingham who asked the question that we would all like to know. Unfortunately Conroy and the ACMA could not provide an answer.

Talk Senator BIRMINGHAM—How many sites are identified on the current ACMA blacklist?

Talk Ms O’Loughlin—Currently there are about 800 URLs rather than sites.

Talk Senator BIRMINGHAM—How many URLs would you expect to be on the blacklist to meet the Labor Party’s policy of prohibiting sites such as those containing child pornography and X-rated material?

Talk Senator Conroy—As we have not completed our discussions I do not think Ms O’Loughlin will be in a position to answer that at this stage.

Talk Senator BIRMINGHAM—As in ACMA has not completed its discussions with you, Minister?

Talk Senator Conroy—Yes. She mentioned that it was based on discussions with the government, which are not completed yet.

Talk Senator BIRMINGHAM—So, you have not worked out how broad this blacklist will be?

Talk Senator Conroy—We are in discussions with ACMA about that and we are happy to take your question on notice and give you a response when we finalise the matter.

Full details of the discussions can be found here. 

 

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ACMA Internet Filtering Report.

Just released is the Australian Communications and Media Authority ACMA: First Internet Filtering Report titled 'Developments in Internet Filtering Technologies and Other Measures for Promoting Online Safety'. More details here. 

 

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Aboriginals denied censored porn. 

The dying days of the Howard saw them launch an emergency response to the report into sexual abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal Communities. Following their election defeat, the former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer came clean with the true reasons for the policy.

"... when we intervened in the Northern Territory in the Indigenous communities there again, the actual initiative was very popular with the public but it didn't shift the opinion polls."
ABC Insiders Program 
25/11/2007

 

One of the measures introduced by the former Coalition government prevented X18+ films from being available in Aboriginal communities. Now the Rudd government is going one step further with the introduction of a bill that would allow these communities to request that R18+ pay-TV channels be banned. What we are talking about restricting access to the heavily censored Adult channels that appear of pay-TV. The bill specifically mentions channels that:

"...contain a large amount of R 18+ programming"

Presumably this excludes World Movies, which although it screens R18+ titles, they do not make a large part of the schedule.

 

Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Emergency Response Consolidation) Bill 2008

EM type EM 
Bill number 08043
Date 21 February, 2008 
Database Explanatory memoranda
Source House

Schedule 1 – R 18+ programs

This bill amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 to require particular pay television licensees not to provide television channels that contain a large amount of R 18+ programming into certain prescribed areas under the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007. The cessation of the television service would occur only on the request of the community and after consultation with the community, and an assessment that there would be benefit in such action to Indigenous women and children in particular.

Schedule 2 – Transport of prohibited material

The bill permits prohibited material to be transported through a prescribed area to a place outside the prescribed area. Specifically, amendments ensure that an offence does not apply if a person proves that the material was brought into the prescribed area for the sole purpose of transporting it to a place outside the prescribed area. Amendments to the seizure provisions ensure that prohibited material brought into the prescribed area for the purpose of transporting it through that area is not seized, and, if seized, will be able to be returned.

 

 

FAMILIES, HOUSING, COMMUNITY SERVICES AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (EMERGENCY RESPONSE CONSOLIDATION) BILL 2008: Second Reading
Date 21 February, 2008 
Database House Hansard
Speaker Plibersek, Tanya, MP (Sydney, Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women, ALP, Government) 
Page 8
Proof Yes 
Source House
Stage Second Reading 
Type Speech
Context Bills 
Main Committee No

FAMILIES, HOUSING, COMMUNITY SERVICES AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (EMERGENCY RESPONSE CONSOLIDATION) BILL 2008 

Second Reading Speech Ms PLIBERSEK (Sydney—Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women) (9.53 a.m.)—I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill introduces amendments to consolidate the special measures protecting Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory, which were enacted in the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 and the Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Act 2007.

The previous government included provisions in the legislation, abolishing the requirement for people to obtain permits prior to visiting Aboriginal communities. The current government does not believe that these provisions contribute to the emergency response and has given undertakings to reinstate the permit system. This bill does that. Separately, by means of a ministerial determination, the government will ensure that journalists can access communities for the purpose of reporting on events in communities.

The 2007 legislation included prohibitions on the possession, control and supply in prescribed areas of pornographic material. This bill addresses a further area of concern expressed by Aboriginal people in the Little children are sacred report about R-rated material available through pay television subscription.

This bill amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 to establish a new class licence condition that prevents subscription television narrowcasting service licensees from providing subscribers in a community declared by the Indigenous affairs minister with access to a subscription television narrowcasting service declared by the communications minister. Services cannot be declared unless they transmit more than 35 per cent of R18+ program hours over a seven-day period. Communities cannot have their access to the television service restricted unless they are in prescribed areas under the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007, and the Indigenous affairs minister is satisfied that the community concerned wants the service restricted (following proper consultation) and it is appropriate to do so. Consistent with the pornography amendments already made to the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995, this arrangement will include a sunset provision.

To ensure greater consistency with the alcohol bans, this bill will amend the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 to permit the transportation of prohibited material through a prescribed area to a destination outside the prescribed area. The amendments are intended to allow industry members to transport goods lawfully, in the conduct of their business, to areas that are not prescribed. Under the amendments, an offence for possession or supply would not apply if the person proves that the material was brought into the prescribed area for the sole purpose of transporting it to a place outside the prescribed area.

Consequential amendments are also made to the seizure provisions so that prohibited material will not be seized if the material is only being transported through a prescribed area. However, if the material is seized, it can be returned to the owner if the material is not prohibited material or is only being transported through a prescribed area.

A further measure in the bill will make sure that, if a roadhouse effectively takes the place of a community store in a remote area, it can be properly treated as a community store in having to meet the new licensing standards. Assuming the community substantially relies on the roadhouse for grocery items and drinks, the roadhouse should be able to be part of the scheme applying to community stores. Otherwise, roadhouses will continue not to be regarded as community stores.

The 2007 legislation requires the Commonwealth to pay a reasonable amount of compensation where action under the legislation results in an acquisition of property. Concerns have been raised that the term ‘reasonable’ does not provide just terms as referred to in the Constitution. The government would also be concerned if that were the situation. However, the government has received legal advice that a requirement to pay a reasonable amount of compensation gives effect to the requirement for the payment of just terms under the Constitution. The term ‘reasonable compensation’ has been commonly used in legislation for this purpose and appears in many other acts.

The package of legislation for the Northern Territory emergency response contains provisions for welfare reform, changes to land and housing arrangements, improving law and order and improving the safety and wellbeing of children and their families. The legislation also contains provisions which deem the measures to be special measures and exclude them from the operation of part II of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. The government did not support the racial discrimination provisions whilst in opposition. The government is keen to work in partnership with Indigenous communities and the Northern Territory government to tackle the problems of child abuse and improve the prospects of Indigenous children and their families.

As we have made clear—most recently by the Prime Minister last week in parliament—the government is committed to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians on life expectancy, educational achievement and employment opportunities.

We are also committed to evidence based policy. We have announced our intention to commission an independent review of the Northern Territory emergency response for completion in the latter part of 2008 to determine whether the response is improving education, health and employment outcomes. We will give further consideration to the racial discrimination provisions in the legislation enacted by the previous government following our proposed review later this year.

Given our commitment to maintaining the overall direction of the emergency response until the completion of the review, and to focus on effective implementation, the bill contains some amendments to existing measures which continue to be covered by the operation of the racial discrimination provisions in the legislation for the Northern Territory emergency response. Importantly, the bill contains no new provisions which exclude the operation of the Racial Discrimination Act. The new R18+ measures have been designed as special measures and do not have a provision excluding the operation of part II of the Racial Discrimination Act. This bill also gives effect to our election commitment to revoke the public access permit changes legislated by the previous government.

Debate (on motion by Mrs Markus) adjourned.

 

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Classification Amendment Bill 2008.

We've covered the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Assessment and Advertising) Bill 2008 on previous updates. Last weeks saw it receive a second reading with this speech from Bob Debus.

CLASSIFICATION (PUBLICATIONS, FILMS AND COMPUTER GAMES) AMENDMENT (ASSESSMENTS AND ADVERTISING) BILL 2008: Second Reading
Date 14 February, 2008 
Database House Hansard
Speaker Debus, Bob, MP (Macquarie, Minister for Home Affairs, ALP, Government) 
Page 9
Proof Yes 
Source House
Stage Second Reading 
Type Speech
Context Bills 
Main Committee No

CLASSIFICATION (PUBLICATIONS, FILMS AND COMPUTER GAMES) AMENDMENT (ASSESSMENTS AND ADVERTISING) BILL 2008 Second Reading Speech Mr DEBUS (Macquarie—Minister for Home Affairs) (10.05 a.m.)—I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The National Classification Scheme operates to classify the content of a range of entertainment media and provide important information to consumers about that content.

The Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Assessments and Advertising) Bill 2008 contains two areas of reform to classification procedures. First, it changes the way the Classification Act deals with the advertising of unclassified product and, second, it changes the classification procedures for box sets of television series that are released for sale or hire.

The bill makes these amendments to improve the operation of the National Classification Scheme and to respond to the ever-changing technological environment for entertainment media.

The first initiative is part of a package of reforms which, together with amendments to state and territory legislation, will replace the prohibition on advertising unclassified films and computer games with a new scheme that will allow advertising, subject to conditions. Those conditions will be set out in a new Commonwealth instrument. The new advertising scheme was developed following public consultation on a discussion paper and has been the subject of discussions with state and territory censorship ministers.

The package of reforms will update the definition of advertisement to explicitly include advertising on the internet, and to exclude what is commonly known as product merchandising such as clothing. This recognises where consumers get their classification information from.

Currently there is a prohibition on advertising unclassified films and computer games. A limited number of exemptions is available for cinema release products. The increasing risk of piracy and rapid advances in technology have led to products being available for classification very close to their release date. The current system therefore causes difficulties for marketing of classifiable products. In light of these changing circumstances, it is no longer tenable to prohibit the advertising of unclassified material.

This bill enables a legislative instrument to set conditions on advertising unclassified films and computer games. The instrument will establish a strong new advertising message advising consumers to: Check the Classification.

The public expects, if a film is advertised before a film at a cinema, or on a DVD, that it will be suitable for the audience for the feature they have chosen to see. The same applies to advertisements accompanying computer games. So the instrument will permit unclassified films and computer games to be advertised only with films or computer games likely to be of the same or higher classification.

The instrument will establish an industry based self-assessment scheme whereby the likely classification of an unclassified film or computer game is assessed when advertising together with classified films or computer games. The instrument will introduce a stronger commensurate audience rule so that advertisements for films likely to be classified PG may no longer be screened to an audience for a G film.

The new scheme contains safeguards to ensure that audiences will not be confronted by advertisements for material likely to be classified at a higher level than the product they have chosen to view or play. For example, the Classification Act will be amended to enable applications to be made to the Classification Board for an assessment of the likely classification of an unclassified film or computer game in difficult cases or where it is not cost-effective for industry to self assess. Other safeguards include giving the director the power to revoke an assessor’s status or, in serious cases, bar a distributor from accessing the scheme for up to three years. These powers are designed to deter users from abusing the system or making lax or inadequate assessments. Decisions by the director to revoke an assessor’s status or bar someone from using the scheme will be reviewable by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Further safeguards include initial and annual training for individual assessors, random and complaints based auditing of advertising material and the retention of existing powers which allow the director to call in advertisements.

The second initiative contained in this bill is amendments to the classification procedures for films that are compilations of episodes of a television series that have already been broadcast in Australia. This bill enables a television series assessment scheme to be established. Under the new television series scheme a person appropriately trained and authorised may provide a report and a recommendation to the Classification Board to assist them in their classification of a box set of episodes of a television series. The Classification Board will retain responsibility for classifying the film. But its consideration will be assisted by the assessment of an authorised assessor.

To provide flexibility to respond to changing technology, and the increasing capacity of storage devices, the details of the scheme will be included in a legislative instrument.

The television series assessment scheme also contains safeguards to ensure the integrity of the classification system and consistency of advice to consumers. These include requiring the board to revoke classifications in specified circumstances such as when the assessment on which the classification was based was highly unreliable. For example, an assessment may have lacked enough information about classifiable elements, or been misleading, incorrect or grossly inadequate.

In addition, the director has a power to revoke, in specified circumstances, an assessor’s status. In serious cases, the director has the power to bar a person from being an assessor for up to three years, or bar an applicant from using the television series assessment scheme for up to three years. These powers are permissive, and only exercisable under certain conditions. They are designed to deter users from abusing the system or providing lax or inadequate assessments of additional content. Decisions by the director to revoke an assessor’s status or bar an assessor or applicant from using the scheme may be reviewed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

These amendments have been developed in response to concerns expressed by industry about the application of the existing laws in light of developing technology and changing marketing imperatives. The purpose of this proposal is to reduce the cost to industry and to streamline the classification process for the Classification Board.

The amendments contained in this bill will ensure the National Classification Scheme continues to serve both industry and the public well, responding to the needs of the rapidly evolving world of entertainment media by providing reliable classification information for consumers.

I join several of my colleagues in recognising Mr Warren Mundine in the gallery. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mrs May) adjourned.

 

 

Update 23rd February 2008
Refused-Classification.com 

 

 

Australian Censorship News
16th February 2008

DARK SECTOR: Banned in Australia

Well it had to happen sooner or later; we have our first banned game of 2008. Although it is not yet listed in their database, DARK SECTOR has been Refused Classification by the censors. Without an R18+ games rating this will certainly not be the last.

Hopefully this will push the games industry to further lobby to bring the ratings in line with films. As we always say, instead of whining about this online, be constructive and write to the people who can change the laws. Letters of complaint should be directed to your State Attorney-General, and the new Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Telephone: (02) 6277 7300
Fax: (02) 6273 4102

R.McClelland.MP@aph.gov.au

Your State Attorney-General can be found here.

 

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COMING OUT BI: Banned in Australia
CLAUDIA: Censored in Australia

Metro Interactive had just had Gino Colbert's COMING OUT BI banned by the Classification Board.

Meanwhile, Calvista have been busy censoring the UK Harmony Film production of CLAUDIA. Originally banned back in December, it now holds an X18+ (Explicit Sex) rating.

 

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Hardcore Sex Films in Victorian Adult Stores.

The Sunday Age have just conducted an investigation into Victoria's adult entertainment industry and have shockingly found adult films to buy and rent. Read the full article which accurately sums up the contradictions in the current system.

On a related note, you can see Fiona Patten discusses censorship of X-rated material on this You Tube clip.

 

The X files. The Age 17.02.08

On the record, Victoria Police will only say there is no evidence of an increase in the illegal trade of X-rated or unclassified films, or films that have been refused classification.

Our investigation suggests the contrary is true. Contradictions abound not only between the law and its enforcement, but also in the legislation as it is written. For example, while it is illegal to sell X-rated material in Victoria, there is no law against buying it, owning it or watching it here.

Tony Burke, president of the Law Institute of Victoria, says the state's classification law is "anachronistic and ridiculous". However, he warns that the failure of police to enforce the prohibition against the sale of X-rated films could encourage wider illegality. "There is a danger that the law falls into disrepute," he says. "When the law is not enforced, it throws into doubt the whole legal system of Australia."

Fiona Patten, chief executive of the Eros Association, an adult lobby group, says the sale of X-rated material in adult shops should be the least of police concerns. She says sexually violent and other hard-core pornographic material is increasingly being sold at Melbourne's weekend markets and inside convenience stores and petrol stations (where DVDs typically might be sold inside sealed magazines). A film she bought last year from a Saturday market in Altona, in Melbourne's west, for example, showed women smothered with chloroform and raped as they lay unconscious.

The Eros Association says such illegal trade would diminish by changing the state's "outdated" pornography prohibitions to a licensing system similar to that operating in the ACT, where inspectors conduct random checks for illegal material. Patten says adult store owners who are licensed to sell X-rated films would be likely to assist inspectors in stemming the illegal trade in more hardcore pornography.

Club X boss Craig Hill boasts there has never been a successful prosecution in Victoria for the sale of X-rated films.

In 2003-04, Victoria Police recorded 152 offences for breaches of the classification law and arrested, charged or cautioned 64 people. Between 2006-07, those figures had plummeted to only 14 recorded offences and 12 people. Indeed, a Club X employee in Melbourne, who asked not to be named, told The Sunday Age his store had not been raided by police since 1991.

"Police, like the majority of our customers, are mature adults who think that they should be able to watch what they want, when they want," Hill says.

He compares the prohibition on X-rated films to the law against homosexuality in Tasmania, which remained on the state's statute books long after changing community standards had rendered it effectively irrelevant.

Professor Neil Rees, chairman of the Victorian Law Reform Commission, instead compares the ban on the sale of X-rated films with previously stringent laws against any use of so-called soft drugs.

"A generation ago, the laws relating to marijuana were quite draconian and for some time huge efforts were not made to enforce those laws because community attitudes were in the process of changing," he says.

"It is not unusual for there to be a gap between the law as written on the books and what actually happens in practice, and that may result from changing community attitudes and the government deciding that the best approach is to sit quietly and do nothing until community attitudes evolve to a point where there might be support for some significant change in the law.

"In this community 40 or 50 years ago, we had books like Lady Chatterley's Lover banned. People would now look at this and think it absurd. And my sense is that community attitudes towards the sort of materials available now in the adult industry are evolving, so long as possession is made by adults and not children."

Next month the commission will complete its report on reform of the anti-abortion laws, which the Government sought only after several decades of public calls for legislative change.

The adult entertainment industry claims similarly to have the weight of public opinion carrying it forward towards possible law reform.

Meanwhile, the Victorian Government remains silent on the issue. When asked about potential changes to the classification law, a spokeswoman for Attorney-General Rob Hulls, who has previously admitted to watching an X-rated film, simply says such issues are not "high on the agenda".

Michael Pearce, a vice-president of Liberty Victoria, says police have rightly shifted their focus and limited resources away from the sale of X-rated material to stopping the spread of child pornography.

He argues that beyond banning child pornography, adults should be allowed to buy and sell whatever material they please. "I can't see there would be any demonstrated harm coming from this," he says.

 

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Sexpo Belladonna Billboard Controversy

Nothing like a bit of controversy to promote an event. Just keep talking Councillor Paul Tully, Sexpo are thanking you. The star of the show is Belladonna who has had many of her films banned and subsequently heavily censored in Australia.

Sexpo billboard 'too close to school'. Brisbane Times 11.02.08

An Ipswich City councillor has called on Queensland Rail to remove a billboard advertising "live porn stars" because it is situated just 600 metres from a primary school.

The Sexpo billboard, on QR land along the Ipswich rail line at Goodna, features headshots of a number of international adult entertainers.

It promises "more live porn stars than ever seen in Australia" and is about 600 metres away from Goodna Primary School on Albert Street.

It is understood no complaint has been registered with industry watchdog the Advertising Standards Bureau.

But Councillor Paul Tully said a school principal from Ipswich complained to him about the billboard's prominence.

"Given the proximity of this billboard to the local school, I pity the parents having to answer their children's inevitable questions as they crawl along the motorway to and from school," the school principal wrote.

Cr Tully said residents had also contacted him about another billboard advertisement for the local sex shop.

He said the Maison Amour ad, just opposite the Goodna McDonalds store, was also on QR land and should be taken down.

"(QR) won't allow political signs on railway land, yet sexually explicit billboards are given the green light across the state," Cr Tully said.

"Our railway reserves should be used for appropriate commercial advertising, not for Sexpos, sex shops, male impotence and longer lasting sex."

But a QR spokesperson said the agency was unable to censor any content except for political and religious messages.

"QR could face a legal challenge should it pre-judge advertising without good reason," the spokesperson said.

 

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New Zealand Censorship 2007.

Each year we try and take a look across the Tasman and see what the New Zealand censors have been up to. It's always useful to compare how our two countries approach censorship. Incidentally, now that our guys have dropped the Office of Film and Literature Classification name, New Zealand are now the only OFLC around. Looking back at 2007 we can see that customs did a big bust of controversial titles. Twelve titles, all presumably from the same confiscation, were submitted to the censors. Only Teruo Ishii's THE JOYS OF TORTURE escaped with an R18 (Objectionable except if the availability of the publication is restricted to persons who have attained the age of 18 years) decision. The other eleven were deemed 'Objectionable'. These were:

06/2007 - Angel Of Death Der Todesengel The Final Cut (177:33)
06/2007 - August Underground Bonus Disc (190:17)
05/2007 - August Underground Snuff Edition (73:25)
05/2007 - Horse-Woman-Dog (58:03)
06/2007 - Sexandroide (57:59)
05/2007 - Lost Paradise (33:44)
05/2007 - Nekromantik 2 (171:30)
05/2007 - Psycho: The Snuff Reels (73:21)
05/2007 - Raping! (69m 05s)
05/2007 - Schoolgirl In Cement (76:55)
06/2007 - Wedding Trough (87:43)

NEKROMANTIK 2 has also been the target of at least three Australian customs confiscations. Whilst WEDDING TROUGH is of course the English title for VASE DES NOCES, which screened to great controversy at the 1975 Perth Film Festival, only to be banned by the censors in 1976. After a quick IMDb scan through the subject matter of the rest you would have to conclude that our own customs or Classification Board would take a similar line as that of their New Zealand counterparts.

 

Three books/magazines (whose titles explain the reasons) joined the list of 'Objectionable' material. These were:

06/2007 - Cannabis Cultivator: A Step-By-Step Guide To Growing Marijuana 
07/2007 - Marijuana New School Indoor Cultivation: A Reference Manual With Step-By-Step Instructions 
10/2007 - Cannabis Culture Marijuana Magazine Issue #66 May/June 2007 

NZ OFLC Annual Report 2006-2007
Two decisions classifying publications submitted by Customs helped to illustrate the line between advocacy of law reform, and the promotion and encouragement of criminal activity. A magazine entitled Cannabis Culture was restricted to adults because its dominant effect was to promote the reform of laws that criminalise cannabis use, whereas a book entitled Cannabis Cultivator received an objectionable classification because it promoted and encouraged criminal activity by simply instructing in how to grow and use cannabis.

A couple of DVD's from Siren's Hentai collection also ran into problems. Both of the following were considered 'Objectionable'.

11/2007 - Maple Colors (65:56)
08/2007 - My Brother's Wife (59:41)

MAPLE COLORS was rated R18+ (High Level Animated Sex Scenes) by the Australian censors in May 2007. Whilst the problems experienced by My Brother's Wife have been well documented on this site.

 

A DVD titled URBAN WARFARE VOLUME 1 was banned in June 2007. 

NZ OFLC Annual Report 2006-2007
Another of the DVDs submitted by Customs and classified objectionable was entitled Urban Warfare Volume One. The publication consisted entirely of amateur footage of street fights presented in a sensationalised manner. The DVD was classified objectionable because it had the potential to transmit to its likely audience not only an open contempt for the criminal law, but also an attitude that committing criminal activity is exhilarating, personally advantageous and a means to achieve a certain level of notoriety.

 

The biggest news however was the banning of the 95:08 print of HOSTEL 2 in July 2007. The NZ OFLC considered it to be 'Objectionable' and list it as having 'Excisions Recommended But Not Made'. The problem scene was that of Lorna being tortured. In Australia it was passed with an R18+ (High level violence, Blood and gore, Coarse language) rating.

New Zealand's TV3 Nightline program had a report on the ban.

 

Hostel: Part II too horrific for NZ censors TV3 14.02.08

The censors say the protagonist in the scene takes sexual pleasure from the torture and murder of the victim and ruled that the movie could only be released if the scene was edited out.

However, the film’s distributor, Sony Pictures (NZ), and many of the fans believe the film would not be harmful to the public if it was released uncut.

Hostel: Part II was a difficult film for the censors to rate and they arranged a controlled public viewing of the movie as part of the process.

The people involved in the public viewing represented a broad spectrum of the New Zealand public and were not all horror fans - most of them would probably avoid films such as Hostel: Part II.

After the viewing, the audience was surveyed and 64 percent said the film should be given an R18 rating and released uncut.

Sony Pictures (NZ) appealed the New Zealand censor's decision, but the Film and Literature Board of Review rejected the appeal by a vote of 3 - 2, also ruling that the controversial "bloodbath" scene needed to be censored before the film could be released in New Zealand.

Sony Pictures (NZ) says it is not financially viable to edit the film for a theatrical release in New Zealand and they have no plans to do so.

 

Here is an extract from the NZ OFLC decision where they attempt to justify the ban.

NZ OFLC Annual Report 2006-2007

Decision Extract from the 35mm film Hostel Part II Classification: Objectionable.
“... The Classification Office must give “particular weight” in s3(3)(a)(v) to the extent and degree to which, and the manner in which, any part of the film depicts physical conduct in which sexual satisfaction is derived from inflicting cruelty and pain. There is no doubt that the scene [sic] depicts physical conduct in which sexual satisfaction is derived from inflicting cruelty and pain extensively, to the highest degree, and in a manner that invites the viewer to share in the protagonist’s enjoyment of it. Does this depiction, however, go further and at least tend to support or promote acts of torture and the infliction of extreme violence and extreme cruelty in terms of s3(2)(f)? ... 

... It is reasonable to suggest that a depiction of cruelty, torture and death as sexually gratifying activities at least tends to promote and support acts of torture and the infliction of extreme violence and extreme cruelty in terms of s3(2)(f). The scene at least tends to be promotional because the torturer is not shown to experience sadness, remorse or any of the consequences that would normally follow murder, such as arrest, trial, conviction and imprisonment. The only consequence she experiences is sexual satisfaction. The negative effect this depiction may have on some viewers, and indirectly on society as a whole, is certainly within the scope of social harm that Parliament sought to remedy by enacting s3(2)(f). Section 3(2)(f) is based on psychological research that has repeatedly shown that depictions of violence and sexual violence against women are more likely than depictions of sex alone to be injurious to the public good. Such depictions reinforce negative attitudes towards women in a number of ways. They have been shown to desensitise viewers to real-life violence⁴, to reduce empathy with victims of sexual violence amongst both men and women⁵, to increase rape myth acceptance⁶, and to increase women’s fear of sexual assault.⁷ The extensive fusion of violence and sex in this particular scene sets it apart from the other depictions of torture and cruelty in the publication. 

This scene tends to promote and support acts of torture and the infliction of extreme violence and extreme cruelty in terms of s3(2)(f) because it depicts acts of torture, extreme violence and cruelty as sexually arousing. Section 3(2)(f) deems the publication to be objectionable. If, however, this scene were to be excised, the Classification Office is of the opinion that in terms of s32, the rest of the film would not be deemed to be objectionable under s3(2)(f) ...”

⁴ E.I. Donnerstein and D.G. Linz. 1986. “Mass Media Sexual Violence and Male Viewers: Current Theory and Research,” American Behavioral Scientist 29(1):601-618; D.G. Linz, E.I. Donnerstein and S.M. Adams. 1989. “Physiological Desensitisation and Judgments About Female Victims of Violence,” Human Communication Research 15:509-522. 

⁵ C.Krafka, D. Linz, E.I.Donnerstein and S. Penrod. 1997. “Women’s Reactions to Sexually Aggressive Mass Media Depictions,” Violence Against Women 3(2):149-181. 

⁶ T.M Emmers-Sommer, P. Pauley, A Hanzel and L. Triplett. 2006. “Love, Suspense, Sex, and Violence: Men’s and Women’s Film Predilictions, Exposure to Sexually Violent Media, and their Relationship to Rape Myth Acceptance,” Sex Roles 55:311-320. 

⁷ C. Krafka, D. Linz, E. Donnerstein, and S. Penrod. 1997. “Women’s Reactions to Sexually Aggressive Mass Media Depictions,” Violence Against Women 3(2):149; “The Research Base on the Impact of Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material: What Theory and Empirical Studies Offer” in D. Thornburgh and H.S.Lin eds., Youth, Pornography and the Internet (2002, National Academy Press, Washington DC).

 

Now let's look at what they passed in 2007, and we banned. The two games Refused Classification by the Australian censors both hold NZ ratings. 

In January 2007 the BLITZ: THE LEAGUE game was banned by out own Classification Board because it:

"contains drug use related to incentives or rewards"

However the New Zealand OFLC rated the game R16 (Contains drug use, violence and sexual references) on March 12th 2007. Here is what they had to say about the decision in their Game Classification Update #21 March 2007.

The game Blitz the League was classified R16 in New Zealand. Earlier, it had been refused classification (banned) in Australia. The Australian Classification Board made this decision on the basis that Blitz the League contains drug use related to incentives or rewards and under the Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games, there is a general rule that means this of content is Refused Classification.

The New Zealand Office of Film and Literature Classification considered that the game:

 … does not promote or encourage criminal acts. While the in-game feature of taking legal and illegal sports enhancing drugs to improve a player’s team’s performance is a component of the game it is not a particularly significant one.

 

The other game was SOLDIER OF FORTUNE: PAYBACK which was banned by the Australian Classification Board in October 2007, before having a censored version passed MA15+ (Strong violence, Coarse language and sexual references, Gaming experience may change online) in November. 

The NZ OFLC passed the game R18 (Contains graphic violence and offensive language) in December 2007.

Both of these decisions are obviously due to the lack of any Australian rating greater than 15+.

 

As far as films are concerned, FACES OF DEATH 2 holds an R18 (Contains graphic content that may offend) rating awarded by the NZ OFLC in November 2001. It was banned in Australia in December 2007.

 

So from all this we can conclude that the standards of the two censors are more or less similar. This obviously makes sense as anyone who has visited New Zealand will soon notice that the vast majority of DVD releases are Australian with the NZ OFLC label stuck over our own. The lack of an R18+ games rating for us is the only major difference. For every HOSTEL 2 that they ban, we refuse FACES OF DEATH 2. We ban MY BROTHER'S WIFE, and THE PEACEFUL PILL HANDBOOK, and they do the same.

 

******

 

PEACEFUL PILL HANDBOOK Censored in NZ.
Digital PEACEFUL PILL HANDBOOK Coming Soon

As mentioned above, THE PEACEFUL PILL HANDBOOK was banned in New Zealand as well as Australia. Following Phillip Nitschke's recent visit, it was resubmitted to the NZ OFLC and is now available in a censored version which according to Exit International...

The new copies differ from the version that was banned in June 2007 by having entire sections blacked out.

 

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On a related note, Exit has announced that they will soon be releasing a digital version of THE PEACEFUL PILL HANDBOOK.

Neither a book nor a workshop, but somewhere in between, Exit hopes to deliver - in real time - this valuable and much sought after information to those who seek it. Yet already there are voices of dissent, suggesting this approach is a dangerous one and that the vulnerable could be harmed. 

 

Update 16th February 2008
Refused-Classification.com 

 

Updates: January 2008