Some Australian States Allow Owning But Not Selling X-rated Material

The Eros Association plans to push Australia's new Federal Labor Government to revise laws prohibiting the retail sale of X-rated DVDs in certain territories, according to The Age.

Material legally classified by the Federal Government as X-rated can be sold in the Capital Territory and the Northern Territory of Australia, but not in Victoria and other states.

People can legally own pornography in these states, and usually obtain it by mail from Canberra. But because of the ban on selling it, a pirate trade has sprouted in weekend markets and gas stations for imported, non-classified DVDs that the adult industry claims contain banned content such as violent sex scenes.

Eros CEO Fiona Patten called the states' laws regarding the matter untenable, saying, "It is illogical and ideological madness for state Labor governments to argue that people should not be able to sell legal X-rated films when federal Labor says they can run a business with the product."
Patten issued a call for Victoria's government to "bring their censorship laws into line with federal classification laws.

"The current ban on classified X-rated films has opened the market to unscrupulous operators who sell pirated and refused classification material from a wide variety of outlets," she added, "including weekend markets and petrol stations."

Patten also entreated Federal Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus to raise the issue at the March meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys General (SCAG).

A spokesman for Debus said no correspondence had been received from the Eros Association. Victoria Attorney General Rob Hulls said, "I would be surprised if this issue was high on the agenda" of the March meeting.