Pornography laws overlap

Press, 8 December 1987, Page 4

Pornography laws overlap

PA Wellington The laws relating to pornography overlap and conflict with one another and could be replaced with umbrella legislation, the Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer, said yesterday. At a press conference called to mark the first meeting of the committee of inquiry into pornography, Mr Palmer said the subject was covered by at least three sets of laws: the Indecent Publications Act, the Video Recordings Act and the Films Act. “The law is overlapping and conflicts to some degree.” He said an umbrella law would probably be the answer, but he could not judge on the matter before the committee had made . its recommendation. “It may not be possible anyway to produce one statute ... but it might be possible to line them up a bit so the procedures are 'comparable. At the moment that is not the case,” Mr Palmer said. A committee set up to help the Government refine the law on porno-

graphy admitted yesterday it was having difficulty defining the topic. “We’ve got to do a lot of work in order to discover what it is that people regard as pornographic,” the chairwoman of the committee into pornography, Ms Joanne Morris, said. But she said the committee's first meeting had been “very fruitful.” Other members of the committee are Dr Hilary Haines and Mr Jack Shallcrass. Mr Palmer said it was important for the inquiry not to have a ready-made definition of pornography, “otherwise you won’t have an open mind." The committee is ready to call for public submissions on pornography, and Ms Morris emphasised that it wanted to hear from individuals as . well as interested groups. “I can’t stress enough the value of public sub- > missions,” she said. “We decided today we would also organise our own research to canvass attitudes of people towards pornography.”