AUSTRALIA - The Australian government plans to crack down on Internet pornography, according to two announcements made this week.
Prime Minister John Howard announced that the government will spend $189 million to block porn websites for families, increase searches for chat-room sex predators and cut off terror sites. And a bill presented Tuesday to the Australian Parliament proposes imprisonment for possession of five or more pornographic items within the Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory; possession of one to four items would be punished by a fine.
Howard and Kevin Rudd, leader of the opposition for the Australian Labor Party, addressed their intention to crack down on porn during their 2007 election campaigns; the announcement was aired by webcam to 770 Christian churches of various denominations. Howard spoke of the importance of Christianity and family values, and described his plans for protecting families from pornography and sex predators. He said Australian families will be provided free Internet filters they can obtain at public libraries, and the government will create partnerships with leading Internet-service providers to block porn sites and detect sex predators who go online to contact children.
The Australian Federal Police will receive $43 million to double the size of its branch that combats the online sexual exploitation of children; the police agency also will use the money to create a group to discover ways around privacy laws that protect sexual predators, Howard said. After a consultation with the attorney general, the Australian Communications and Media Authority's black list, which includes Australia-based porn and terror sites, will be expanded to include sites based in other countries.
"This is a valuable opportunity to highlight the importance of the Christian constituency in the lead-up to the election and to ensure that the Christian influence has maximum impact," Jim Wallace of the Australian Christian Lobby said after the announcement aired to the churches.
The bill presented Tuesday to the Australian Parliament would attach "trafficker" status to anyone found in possession of five or more pornographic items in the Northern Territory; the punishment would be up to two years in prison. The bill, which was presented by Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough, would call for a fine ranging from $5,500 to $11,000 for possession of one to four pornographic items in the region.
According to the "Little Children are Sacred" report published by the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry, a government task force that investigated sexual child abuse among Aboriginals in 2006, 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."
