DARWIN, Australia — Calling the government's ban on porn in Aboriginal communtities racist and ineffective, the Australian Sex Party wants the intervention lifted in the Northern Territory.
Party leader Fiona Patten said the restrictions — enacted in response to a “Little Children are Sacred” report — is a "huge personal freedom issue."
The report said porn was readily available to children in Aboriginal communities and it prompted people to act out their sexual fantasies.
But Patten maintained that banning porn is not the solution, and instead people need to be better educated.
"Trying to ban adults from watching adult material was not the solution — we need to be educating people and upholding the laws that exist in the Territory...it is an offense to show a person under 18 pornographic material," she said.
"I don't think our priority should be a prohibition and ban on pornography."
According to a local ABC report, Patten even encouraged Aboriginal communities to pull down local signs that prohibit porn.
"When racism is covered with a layer of sexual innuendo like this, it causes racism to be more deeply ingrained than it otherwise would be," Patten said.
She said the laws implied that Aboriginal adults were incapable of viewing porn in the same way as other adults.
Independent Parliament Member Gerry Wood however told ABC that protecting children is most important and porn should be banned a precautionary measure.
"I understand you can put out claims of racism, but look, as the Little Children Are Sacred report said, after having a number meetings, it was decided pornographic material was a major issue in communities," he said.
"It encourages them to act out fantasies they see...I'm wondering if we should be using the precautionary principle — children are a higher priority.
"But before people start trying to turn things backwards, we should be talking to the women and the men in the communities to ask them what do they think. We really need to look at the whole issue of the care and protection of children."
But Patten pointed out that the report noted that porn itself was not likely to be the only source of child abuse problems and maintained that policy should be based on all of the report’s findings.
"We haven't had an education campaign out there to talk about what is appropriate for an 18 year-old to watch or a 15 year-old," she said.