Submission re Draft Brothels Bylaws Amendment 2008
December 9, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Prostitution
Submission to Upper Hutt City Council dated 8 December 2008
Background
The Society strongly opposed the Prostitution Reform Bill when it came before the Justice and Electoral Select Committee following its first reading in parliament in October 2000. It made both written and oral submissions to the committee and was one of the leading opponents of the bill. The Prostitution Reform Act 2005 (PRA) was passed by parliament on 26 June 2003 by a majority of only one vote (there was one abstention).
A number of Society executive members addressed the Upper Hutt City Council when it first embarked on a consultation process that led to the current bylaws governing the operation of brothels in the district. The Society strongly supported Mayor Wayne Guppy JP and his councillors who worked towards restrictions being imposed to limit the operation of brothels within the CBD and residential areas. Read more
Bill Hastings used tax-payer funding to induce 14-year olds to watch rape
December 6, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Censor, Children's Television, Television Violence
Chief Censor Bill Hastings, who receives a tax-payer funded salary package of between between $210,000 and $220,000, used tax-payers money to induce a number of children as young as 14 years of age, to watch films featuring rape and graphic violence, all in the name of research study. He and Dominic Sheehan, chief executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority, commissioned market researcher Colmar Brunton to assess the perceptions of 100 individuals of the harm from watching 13 violent clips from films, DVDs etc. Children were paid $60 each for participating. (Dominion Post 4/12/08). It is a serious offence under the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993 for any person to screen a restricted publication to any underage person.
Mother backs Bill Hastings paying her 14-year old son to watch rape
December 6, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Censor, Children's Television, Television Violence
Mother backs TV Research Dominion Post 6/11/08 by Greer McDonald
The mother of a 14-year old who viewed footage of rape and domestic violence for research has defended the study and says children see worse on news broadcasts.
Dawn Bunker, of Wanganui, said she gave consent for her son to take part in the research and believed he didn’t see anything that wasn’t age-appropriate”.
“I feel it was well worthwhile and done professionally, and at no time felt he could not cope with what he was shown. As he himself put it – ‘You see worse on the TV news, Mum.’”
Mrs Bunker was offended by comments from Bob McCoskrie, of lobby group Family First, who said this week that the fact that parents had consented to their children taking part “says something about the parents”.
Mrs Bunker, a mother of three, said parents had to be censors in their own homes. “Some of the things you see on the news, I’ve kicked my kids out of the room – I’m censoring my children myself, I know what they can handle.”
She said chief censor Bill Hastings was doing a good job.
However, a community lobby group has called for he resignations of Mr Hastings and Dominic Sheehan, chief executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority, for whose agencies the research was conducted.
John Mills, president of the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards, said Mr Hastings showed appalling judgment. “the society is outraged Mr Hastings has defended his breaking of the law by claiming that, because the younger participants gained parental permission before they they took part in the research, then that was okay.”
Society calls for Chief Censor and CEO of BSA to be replaced
December 5, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Broadcasting Standards Authority, Censor, Children's Television, Film Ratings, Television Violence
Media Release 5 December 2008
The Society is calling on the new government to dismiss Chief Censor, Bill Hastings and the Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA), Dominic Sheehan, for their role in commissioning a market researcher, Colmar Brunton, to pay “children as young as 14 [to be] subjected to footage of rape, sadism and domestic violence as part of research directed by [these] two broadcasting watchdogs”, as reported in the Dominion Post (4/12/08). Hastings in a feeble and misguided attempt to justify his appalling judgment, when confronted by the Dominion Post, admitted that the teens had indeed viewed attempted rape and graphic violence, but that much of it “went over their head” as they practiced “a type of self-censor”.
Society President John Mills responds “Yeah right Bill!” and asks: So if children are so skilled at self-censorship and are so oblivious of objectionable content and so unaffected by it, then why are you paid from the public purse over $220,000 per year to censor such material and demand that no adult allow it to be screened to kids, when these same kids can self-censor effectively – so you claim?
In a self-congratulatory farcical ‘analysis’, Hastings told the Dominion Post that he believed the research on child viewing of rape etc. had proved that parents paid attention to film classifications and were “trusting us [the Office of Film and Literature Classification and the BSA] to make a sound call.”
Society President John Mills responds again “Yeah right Bill!” and asks: How can it be a “sound call” for the Chief Censor and CEO of the BSA to offer monetary inducements to children as young as 14 and their parents, in order to get the former to watch rape and graphic violence content and thereby break the law? (The kids were paid $60 to watch material and have their attitudes to it assessed, when screening it to them is illegal). Furthermore, most parents who care about their children would never put them within an arm’s reach of a censor who subjects them to such objectionable content under the pretence of research.
Those under 18 were shown scenes of attempted rape, graphic assaults and domestic violence in the movies Sin City (R18) and 8 Mile (R13), as well as television show Heroes. Violent scenes from episodes of R16-rated Mafia Show “The Sopranos”, the Adults Only TV Programme “Crime Scene Investigation” and the R18 Brad Pitt film “Fight Club” were also shown to the 14 year olds.
The Society is outraged that Mr Hastings has defended his breaking of the law by claiming that because “the younger participants gained parental permission before they took part in the research, then that was OK. However, he is duty-bound to uphold the law – the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 – that defines it to be an offence to show any portion of a restricted publication to an underage person.
The Ministers of Internal Affairs and Broadcasting should insist that the warrants to hold statutory office be immediately withdrawn from Bill Hastings and Dominic Sheehan and they be replaced with persons who uphold the highest standards of integrity in their respective roles as censorship watchdogs.
Reference:
Dominion Post Report
