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Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough. |
Brough "a bit confused" over SBS "pornography" entering remote NT communities
Issue 137 - 06 Sep 2007
By Chris Graham
NATIONAL, September 14, 2007: Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough has accidentally admitted he hasn't read at least one key section of the Little Children Are Sacred report, despite claiming it was the catalyst for the federal government's half billion dollar fight against child abuse in remote Aboriginal communities.
On ABC radio in Darwin this morning, Brough told Breakfast show presenter Julia Christiansen that he was surprised "and a bit confused" when Aboriginal women in Alice Springs raised the issue of pornographic content on SBS, a free to air channel.
But the Little Children Are Sacred report - released almost three months ago as the NT government's response to violence and child abuse in remote Aboriginal communities - explicitly identifies SBS as one of the sources of pornography in Aboriginal communities.
Under the section headed 'Pornography', the report quotes "service providers at a Central Australian community" as saying that "Porn is available in the community - SBS and Austar are probably the main sources."
It also notes: "Many Aboriginal people were also concerned with the effect of the dominant culture generally, particularly through television."
Brough was being interviewed on Darwin radio this morning because today marks the start of the federal government's ban on X-rated pornography in Aboriginal communities, as part of its 'emergency intervention' in the Northern Territory.
ABC PRESENTER: We have heard there are salesmen from cable TV channels selling their products out there. Can you not restrict that?
MAL BROUGH: In Alice Springs when I was last there a few weeks back the women actually said to me their greatest concern of television type programs was actually SBS, believe it or not, so that was of great concern to them as well.
ABC PRESENTER: Why are they concerned about SBS?
BROUGH: Well, they called it the pornographic channel.
ABC: Despite the fact that they can get 24 hour porno movies on cable, they're more concerned about SBS?
BROUGH: Well that's what they raised with me. I'm just reporting to you, it was extraordinary, I actually was a bit confused... They said 'You're going to get rid of the porno channel [on Pay TV]' and I thought that's what they were talking about and I said 'Well we are working on that. We've got see how we can restrict access to those sort of things because it's part of what we're trying to achieve here in this emergency phase.' And they said 'We're talking about SBS'. So, look that is just what they have said. It is a real concern to some of the women. Obviously some of the programming on free to air channels as well."
In addition to his 'confusion' over SBS television, Brough also appears to be floundering on the issue of pornography being beamed into Aboriginal communities via Pay television.
The report notes that communities identified Pay TV provider Austar as a major source of pornography.
But porn on Austar is R-rated, not X-rated. The federal government's emergency intervention legislation only bans X-rated pornography - there has been no legislative attempt by the federal government to stop R-rated porn being offered on Pay TV because it would mean it would have to be banned throughout the nation.
The impossibility of preventing access to pornography is a fact not lost on the authors of the Little Children Are Sacred report, Rex Wild QC and Pat Anderson, an Aboriginal woman and health expert.
Both explicitly warn that prohibition is unlikely to work and that education is the key.
"The issue of children's and the community's exposure to pornography was raised regularly in submissions and consultations with the Inquiry.
"Once again, education is required. It is unlikely that access to pornography itself or violence in movies and other material can be effectively prevented," they wrote.
Mr Brough's office this afternoon told NIT the topic was a "sidebar" as part of a broader interview and that the Minister was not confused about the matter.
The Minister "referred to meeting women referring to the porn channel, and he thought they were referring to the adult channel, but mentioned they were referring to SBS."
The spokesperson said that the transcript of the interview "confirms similar comments made directly to [the Minister] in previous visits to communities in the NT.
"It is not the first time [the Minister] has commented on this issue publicly. Long before the [Little Children Are Sacred] report he has mentioned that people in communities refer to SBS as the porn channel... he has even mentioned it to SBS journalists (before the report was released)."
 
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