Former child abuse royal commissioner Robert Fitzgerald and top domestic violence campaigners have accused the federal government of putting vested interests ahead of child safety by ignoring advice to trial an Australian porn passport.
In an open letter to be sent to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland on Tuesday, more than three dozen child and women’s safety experts said early exposure to pornography was leading to the normalisation of violence against women and a rise in child-on-child sexual abuse.
E-Safety research found 75 per cent of 16- to 18-year-olds had viewed online pornography, and a third of those first saw it before they were 13. Delaying exposure made it more likely they had the maturity to understand what they saw on screen wasn’t a script for real life.
A Sydney Morning Herald and Age analysis of the world’s most popular free pornography sites found that despite content that showed men treating women with violence and coercion prohibited under Australian law, none stipulated the content was for adults or required users to tick a box confirming they were over 18.
The open letter was organised by Collective Shout, which campaigns for women’s safety. Its movement director, Melinda Tankard Reist, urged the government to heed the letter from disappointed women’s and child safety advocates.
“Millions more children will be exposed to rape, torture porn, sadism, incest, extreme degradation of women,” she said. “We hope the government will recognise the reasonableness of at least trialling a pilot program as called for by this leading group of Australian experts.
“Other countries are doing this. Why can’t Australia? What’s the harm with at least piloting an age verification program?”
Source: Porn passports: Labor accused of putting adult industry interests ahead of child safety