Page 2449 - Week 11 - Thursday, 2 November 1989
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According to the evidence given to the Commonwealth Joint Select Committee on Video Material by the Adult Video Industry Association, the adult video industry is a significant manufacturing industry in the ACT and a substantial employer. The proposed Act, which has been based on the provisions of the Business Franchise (Tobacco and Petroleum Products) Act 1984, will require all persons who wish to sell or hire X-rated videos from the ACT to be licensed. Licences are initially granted for one month, and thereafter must be renewed each month on payment of the appropriate licence fees.
A wholesale licensee will be required to pay a $50 monthly fee in respect of each premise, plus 20 per cent of turnover on the sale or hire of any X-rated video. A retail licensee will only be required to pay a $50 monthly fee in respect of each premise, provided all X-rated videos are purchased from licensed wholesalers. Retailers purchasing X-rated videos from unlicensed wholesalers - for example, a Northern Territory wholesaler - would be required to pay 20 per cent of the value of those purchases.
The taxing of the sale just prior to retail sale and hire will mean that the Territory will be taxing the same sales figures as are taxed by the Australian Taxation Office for sales tax purposes. Such records are, therefore, currently maintained by the industry.
The Bill provides strict conditions for applicants to meet before the commissioner may grant a licence. The commissioner must have no reason to believe that the applicant has contravened a provision of the Publications Control Act, been convicted under that Act, or been punished on conviction by a fine of $10,000 or more or imprisoned for a period of not less than one year. As applies to all applications for business franchise licences, the commissioner must also be satisfied that the applicant is a fit and proper person to hold a licence.
Licences will also specify the premises from which the sale or hire of any X-rated video may occur. Any breach or change to the conditions upon which a licence was granted would allow the commissioner to cancel that licence. Wholesaling or retailing X-rated videos without licences will attract strict penalties.
These are $5,000 or two years' imprisonment for natural persons engaged in unlicensed wholesaling, and $2,000 for natural persons retailing without a licence. Corporate bodies convicted of offences may be fined up to five times these amounts.
Mr Speaker, it should be clearly understood that this Bill does not have the effect of legalising or legitimising X-rated videos. The industry has been operating legally for a long time and is subject to controls established by the Commonwealth. While the Bill places certain obligations
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