X Rated Ban in Australia

The Australian Sex Party have outlined their key polices re state media censorship:

Key Policies:

* To establish a national classification scheme that includes uniform ratings for explicit adult material across all jurisdictions and through all media (including computer games, magazines and films)

*To legalise the sale of and making of X rated films nationally

* To move away from privileging narrow moulds of sexual taste, acts and cultures to expressly include depictions of fetish (currently excluded from Australia's X rating) in a new rating category called Non Violent Erotica

* To actively promote the responsible enjoyment of erotica, endorsing positive messages about consensual and safe sexual activity, and condemning non-consensual sexual activity and sexual violence

*To develop a best practice model with recommendations for the ethical production of pornography that is rewarding and positive for the contributor

*To provide training for all appointees of the Classification Board and Classification Review Board in the latest developments around sexuality to bring them up to date with a pluralistic range of adult sexualities, subcultures, behaviours and body types

* To introduce R, X and NVE ratings for computer games

More than 70% in Australia's New South Wales believe that the state's ban on the sale of adult content at brick-and-mortar stores is wrong, according to a study by the Australian Sex Party.

The Australian Sex Party study, commissioned by the Eros Association and Sexpo, was created to assist the party assess the electoral landscape.

Sex Party leader Fiona Patten said that the results were a wake up call to both the Liberal and Labor parties in New South Wales about the moribund morality that is inherent in many of their policies. Both parties continue to fine and jail adult shop owners for selling federally classified X rated film, she said. Its no wonder that over a third of New South Wales voters feel that there is too much religious influence in politics. It's like living in Iran or China.

Politicians have a responsibility to keep abreast of these issues in their electorates and to not be dictated to by a handful of religious ideologues in their party, she said.

In the study conducted over two days this month, 72.1% of citizens supported the legal sale of adult films from age-restricted adult shops, while 20.5% thought they should continue to be banned.

Adultshop.com has lost a legal challenge to Australia's film classification system after arguing that most adults are no longer offended by seeing actual sex in movies.

The Federal Court today dismissed an appeal by Adultshop.com against an X rating given to the adult film Viva Erotica .

Adultshop.com had been fighting a legal battle for the movie to be given an R18+ rating, following a 2006 decision by the Classification Review Board to give Viva Erotica the more restrictive X18+ rating.

The application by Adultshop.com for a review of the board's decision was unsuccessful and in November last year Federal Court Judge Peter Jacobson upheld the board's ruling.

Today the full bench of the Federal Court dismissed Adultshop.com's appeal against Justice Jacobson's judgment.

In its appeals, Adultshop.com argued the guidelines for the classifications of films were invalid because they failed to properly consider whether most adults would be offended by Viva Erotica

Adultshop.com argued that community standards have changed and that most reasonable adults would not be offended by the depictions of actual sex in Viva Erotica , which had led to its X-rating, rather than simulated sex.

But the court today ruled there were no inconsistencies in the guidelines and they were still broadly representative of current community standards.

Adultshop.com's managing director Malcolm Day said the Office of Film and Literature Classification should commission new research into community views and update the guidelines. He said governments were imposing their own "puritan' views on all Australians: The guidelines are simply a reflection of the conservative, subjective views of the (state and federal) attorney generals .

Adultshop.com is considering an appeal to the High Court.

Online business Adultshop.com has appealed against the failure of its legal bid to reduce the X rating given to an adult film.

In November last year, Justice Peter Jacobson dismissed the online store's application for a judicial review of the Classification Review Board's decision to rank the film Viva Erotica as X18+.

For a film to fall under this classification it must contain real depictions of actual sexual activity ... in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult'.