Customs, tribunal ‘timid’

Press, 12 April 1983, Page 3

Customs, tribunal ‘timid’

PA Wellington The Customs Department and the Indecent Publications Tribunal have been accused of being ineffective and timid by the Society for Promotion of Community Standards. The society’s national secretary, Miss Patricia Bartlett, said that the delaying referral of the United States published “Penthouse” by Customs to the tribunal meant that editions were being classified indecent after they were sold. The November, 1981, edition was not classified indecent until October, 1982, and seven 1982 issues were clas-

sified indecent in March, 1983, after Customs had released them and they had been distributed and sold. Miss Bartlett said this showed the ineffectiveness of the Customs policing role and the timidity of the tribunal to use the powers given it by law. The Customs Department was bound under the Customs Act not to release indecent material and the tribunal was established to stop the sale of indecent publications. Parliament passed the Indecent Publications Amendment Act, 1972, to prevent monthly magazines called serial publications being classified after they had been sold, Miss Bartlett said. “The tribunal is using its discretion most leniently and appears unwilling to show its legal teeth,” she said. The Customs Department should be put in order so that each “Penthouse” is sent to the tribunal months in advance and not released until after classification. The Labour Party’s spokesman on Internal Affairs, Mr J. J. Terris, said later yesterday that the Government’s “wait and see” attitude on policing the importation of video blue

movies was allowing the spread of pornography. Mr Terris said that the Government appeared afraid of making a decision about how to police the importation of blue movies on video cassettes, “presumably because to do so would be to breach the free enterprise ethic.” “However, their indecision is encouraging the further spread of video pornography, Miss Bartlett said. The Minister of Justice, Mr McLay, has said that he is keeping the matter under review. Mr Terris said that video

porn was being openly advertised for sale in some newpspapers and was being promoted as a novel feature of entertainment in massage parlours. “These examples of free enterprise may have Government approval for all we know, but their appearance emphasises the fact that this kind of material will continue to proliferate until clear standards are set proscribing its exploitation, a step possible only if the Government addresses itself immediately and directly to the means of doing so,” Mr Terris said.