CANBERRA, Australia - The Eros Association, one of the adult industry's key lobby groups, has spoken out against a recent ban on pornography aimed at aboriginals in Australia's Northern Territory.
The ban, proposed by Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, is an attempt to fight child sex abuse among the country's indigenous communities. The move has been met with support from Christian lobbyists. Aboriginal leaders argue that the decision is discriminatory.
Officials are now threatening to expand the ban to larger cities such as Canberra.
According to a recent report, the Eros Association — which is based in Australia — said the pornography industry in the country is strictly controlled and regulated. Foundation spokesman Robbie Swan told ABC Australia that the real issue is the distribution of illegal pornography that does not comply with regulations.
"For four years we've been giving them intelligence and information about these traders in illegal pornography in [the city of] Darwin who were the ones who were sending these extremely cheap discs into the communities, and nothing has happened," Swan said. "And for the Prime Minister and the Christian Lobby to say that R-rated, X rated material from Canberra is the problem is just a monumental lie."
Under Prime Minister Howard's initiative, hardcore pornography will be completely banned, and any computers that are publicly funded will be ceased and checked for pornography. The sale, possession and transportation of alcohol in the Northern Territory will also be banned, along with tighter restrictions on welfare payments. The bans will be enacted for six months, after which the policy would be reviewed, according to the report.
Howard's initiatives are based a controversial report, commissioned by the Northern Territory government, which found abuse existed in all of the 45 remote communities it visited but was unable to quantify the problem, instead suggesting that many abuse cases went unreported.
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