Week 3: Grace on Censorship

Cencorship and classification in Australia

Under the Constitution the Commonwealth Government has the power to make laws with regard to telecommunications (including broadcasting) and imported material, but not locally produced matter. The latter is under the jurisdiction of the State governments. Censorship provisions have thus varied according to the nature of the material (TV, film, print etc.) and the state or territory. A Commonwealth Film Censorship Board was first established under the provisions of the Customs Act in 1917. In 1949 Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania signed agreements with the Commonwealth to delegate their film censorship powers and functions to the Commonwealth. The other States eventually followed suit.

By the early 1980s the Film Censorship Board had the following roles:
examination of imported films and video tapes under Customs regulations;
registering and classifying films and videotapes for public exhibition on behalf of the States/Territories in accordance with their legislation;
classifying imported television programs and certain locally produced television programs on behalf of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal (ABT) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Programs produced by commercial television stations were classified by themselves in accordance with the Television Program Standards administered by the ABT.

In September 1984 a meeting of State and Commonwealth censorship ministers foreshadowed stronger controls on videos after acknowledging widespread concern about X-rated material and the level of violence in the M and R categories. At this stage X-rated videos could contain some limited depictions of violence, although most portrayed only explicit sex. The meeting also considered the possibility of introducing a new category for non-violent erotica. In October 1984 another meeting of censorship Ministers agreed to stricter controls on violence in the M and R categories and the replacement of the X category with a new category for non-violent erotica, although Queensland and Tasmania did not support this proposal. In November 1984 changes were made to the Film Censorship Board's guidelines to exclude any suggestion of coercion or non-consent from the X category.

In April 1988 the Report of the Joint Select Committee on Video Material was tabled. The Committee was split on non-party lines with varying majorities for individual recommendations. It recommended a new category to be called non-violent erotica (NVE) to replace the X category. It noted that many people were under the misapprehension that X videos contained violence, child pornography and bestiality. It also recommended a tighter interpretation of the guidelines by the Film Censorship Board to reduce the level of violence in all categories. It should be noted that while six of the eleven members of the Committee voted for a NVE category, only five voted in favour of transferring the existing X-rated material to the new category.

In June 1988 a meeting of Commonwealth and State censorship ministers rejected the NVE recommendation, with the States unanimously supporting the ending of the X category (ie. that X-rated material should be refused classification). However, in November 1988 the ALP Caucus voted not to accept this move.