CANBERRA, Australia - The New Zealand Herald reports that a bill presented to the Australian Parliament Tuesday would brand anybody caught with five or more pornographic items in the aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory a "trafficker," punishable by up to two years in prison.
Introduced to the Parliament by Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough, the draft laws would prohibit the delivery of pornographic materials into the area, and charge anybody possessing the forbidden five or more items with trafficking, regardless of whether they have any intent to profit from them.
"The Little Children are Sacred report revealed the availability of pornography in Northern Territory communities is a factor contributing to child sexual abuse, being used to groom children for sex, and desensitizing children to violence and inappropriate sexual behavior," Brough was quoted in the Herald article as telling Parliament. The report he referenced was one compiled by the Board of Inquiry, a special task force created by the Northern Territory government in August 2006 to investigate allegations of sexual child abuse amongst the aboriginals.
The availability of pornography in the area was one of a host of factors identified by the report as contributing to this problem, others being widespread alcohol and drug abuse, unemployment, gambling, poor education and housing, and a desperate need for improvements in health and social services.
Meanwhile, possession of less than five pornographic items could still earn perpetrators a fine of between $5500 and $11,000 under the new bill.
"This ban applies no matter where material is being sent from," Brough said. "We have to stop material at its source, by preventing mail order companies sending material into a community, as well as residents or visitors sending or taking material into a community."
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