Porn Law A Flawed Bid For Morality
Lawyers are right to be concerned over Justice Minister Phil Goff's proposed new child pornography laws - which are
simply an attempt by the Minister to appear as though he is staunch on moral issues, ACT New Zealand Justice Spokesman
Stephen Franks said today.
"This badly drafted, badly conceived law is unnecessarily wide. It's a gross overkill. There's no evidence that it
would work any better to reduce porn than existing, ineffective constraints already on the internet.
"Further, the Minister's hypocrisy - in attacking the Auckland lawyer whistleblowers - must be evident to everyone,
when Cabinet papers show that he is unconcerned with the idea of allowing 12-year-olds to have sex.
"Mr Goff vetoed publicity in an attempt to ensure that no one realised that his law would de-criminalise, and
legitimise, 12-year-old sex.
"The Minister is now doing the complete opposite. He is trumpeting these anti-porn changes, even though he must know
they'll have no practical effect, and could be mis-used to censor views unpopular with the Labour Cabinet," Mr Franks
said.