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An art magazine has published photo's of a nude 6 year old girl, including on the front cover.. this will certainly have paedophiles lining up to get a copy..
Our opinion is that the magazine is being used to publish/ distribute child pornography in the name of art, and the editor/ owner of the magazine (those involved) should be charged..- MAKO/2008
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LAWS regulating child nudity and art will be overhauled in New South Wales the wake of the Bill Henson controversy. Photographers and film-makers will no longer be able to rely on a legal defence of "artistic purpose" under one of the biggest shake-ups of NSW child-protection laws. In a move likely to trigger intense debate, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the State Government has given in-principle support to the proposal, which is among a raft of amendments put forward by the NSW Sentencing Council. A package of new legislation will be introduced into State Parliament this year. Included will be a new offence of voyeurism, to replace outdated "peeping and prying" laws, and tougher laws targeting teachers, scout masters and other adults in a position of authority over children. There will also be a new offence to address the practice of meeting a child after "grooming" them with indecent material for sexual purposes. It will carry a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail. The move to strike out the artistic purpose defence follows intense community debate over an exhibition by artist Bill Henson in May. Police shut the exhibition and seized 32 pictures, following public uproar over a picture of a naked 12-year-old girl on the exhibition invitation. The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, QC, declined to prosecute Henson, while the Classification Board declared the images were not pornography. In his landmark report, Sentencing Council chairman, Justice James Wood, cited a recent case where the defence was used to justify photographs having been taken of acts of indecency committed against a person under the age of 16 years. The retired Supreme Court judge said it was argued that the acts and the taking of photographs were undertaken for the political and artistic means of making a protest about the abuse of females. Mr Wood recommended the removal of the clause. "The council is concerned that material which would otherwise constitute child pornography and be such as to cause offence to reasonable persons, should then be defensible on the potentially controversial and uncertain ground that the defendant was acting for a genuine artistic purpose," he said. The State Government will set up a working group to examine how to implement the recommendation. NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the Child Pornography Working Party would examine how best to deal with cases involving artists and journalists. "The protection of people from sexual abuse and exploitation are among the most important responsibilities the Government has to the community," he said. "After a comprehensive and balanced examination of our laws, the Sentencing Council has recommended the most significant crackdown on sex offences in a generation. The Child Pornography Working Party will also examine the artistic purposes defence, in the context of child pornography involving the more general category of depicting children in a sexual context." The move follows a year-long review by the council into the state's sexual assault laws, in the wake of growing community concern about child pornography. Under the proposed crackdown, adults in a position of authority found guilty of indecent offences against children will be liable to a maximum sentence of 25 years jail. Other penalties to be increased include that of child prostitution, with offenders to face a 14-year jail term - an increase of four years. The Sunday Telegraph (26-10-2008) Linda Silmalis |
Probe Ordered Into Artist Bill Henson's Visit to School
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A PROVOCATIVE picture of a naked six-year-old girl has been used on the cover of a taxpayer-funded magazine in protest over the treatment of artist Bill Henson. Mr Rudd this morning said he did not believe the magazine's use of the picture was appropriate. "I have very deep, strong, personal views on this, which is that we should be on about maximising the protection of children," Mr Rudd said. "I don't think this is a step in the right direction at all." "A little child cannot answer for themselves about whether they wish to be depicted in this way." Angered by the "hysteria" over Henson's pictures of a 13-year-old girl, the magazine also ran a number of highly sexualised images inside. Art Monthly Australia editor Maurice O'Riordan said he hoped the July edition would restore some "dignity to the debate". An angry Premier Morris Iemma yesterday threatened to pull the magazine's funding. The July edition of Art Monthly Australia also includes several provocative photos of children posing naked in adult jewellery as well as naked teenage girls. In the editorial, Maurice O'Riordan said he chose the 2003 picture of the young girl in the "hope of restoring some dignity to the debate" and to "validate nudity and childhood as subjects for art". The image, taken by Melbourne-based Polixeni, is believed to be her own daughter. Mr O'Riordan, who does not have children of his own, told The Sunday Telegraph he did not care if it stirred community complaint. "I believe the image is of a six-year-old girl," he said. "Maybe this is bold, but I don't see the need to give in to that sort of hysteria or the prospect of complaint. "I couldn't really understand the furore." The artist, Polixeni, said she supports the use of her work for the magazine's cover. "We need to be clever enough to distinguish art from other types of images, otherwise we live in danger of eradicating any image of childhood in this culture for future generations to see.'' Art Monthly Australia receives more than $50,000 in funding from the federal Government's Council for the Arts and lists the NSW Ministry for the Arts under sponsors and partner. The State Government has issued grants to the magazine in previous years. Premier Morris Iemma immediately threatened towithdraw future funding after he was contacted about the images yesterday. "Images of this kind are distasteful, exploitative of children - a cheap, sick stunt at the expense of a young child,'' he said. "We've now reached a sad point where some people think naked kids can boost their sales and get them a headline. We will have no role in funding them while they use images that exploit children.'' More than 5000 copies of the magazine have been distributed across Australia. The magazine also includes images by Bill Henson. In May, police raided the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington, confiscating several images by Henson including the photographs of a naked 13-year-old girl. The photos sparked major national debate and angered several organisations, including child-welfare groups, with Premier Morris Iemma labelling the works "offensive and disgusting''. Mr Henson was cleared of any wrongdoing following a police investigation. A spokeswoman for the Australia Council yesterday defended their decision to help fund the magazine. She said the Council regarded Mr Henson as one of the country's premier artists. The Sunday Telegraph (6-7-2008) Andrew Chesterton |
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24061745-5001021,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,23997885-662,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,23996391-5001021,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,23991259-25717,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23980464-421,00.html
Probe Ordered Into Artist Bill Henson's Visit to School
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