In the face of supposed new evidence of the increasing levels of children sexually abusing other children the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has called for both major political parties to immediately commit to a comprehensive review of the classification system across all media.

ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace said the classification system is broken and that the lack of effective regulation of what is being viewed and read in the community must be acknowledged as at least part of the reason behind the appalling growth in sexualised and sexually abusive behaviour in children.

Revelations by the Australian Crime Commission's National Indigenous Task Force that between 40 and 90% of sexual offending against children was committed by other children – and that the problem is not confined to indigenous communities – should deeply concern all Australians and demand an urgent response from our political leaders, Wallace said.

There has been widespread acknowledgement of the role of the media environment in sexualising children but despite inquiries and talkfests, nothing gets done.

Children don't learn sexualised behaviour in a vacuum and we know that viewing pornography is often associated with this problem. However it goes much further than this, with children continually being bombarded with overtly sexual messages by everything from billboards to films to music videos. When the problem is getting this bad it is time for real action to be taken.

Wallace said a comprehensive review is needed because Australia's classification system has not kept pace with technology and is effectively a toothless tiger even when standards are breached – with no real penalties for those involved.

Growth in technology has meant that Australia's classification system doesn't even apply to a range of new media content, such as mobile phone applications. And where the classification system does apply it is completely ineffective – with standards rarely being enforced and the penalties being laughable even when they are.

Refusing to Classify what's Refused Classification

An Australian Senate Committee has censored a link to a morally-ambiguous parody on the US TV show Family Guy that was included in a written submission by prominent anti-filter campaigner Mark Newton.

The censored Family Guy episode was legally available for sale in Australia with a MA15+ rating from later this month.

It showed the family's dog, Brian, showing baby Stewie the legendary scat video: 2 Girls 1 Cup. The video became an internet sensation when viewers posted videos online of their friends' reactions to the always offscreen video; about 6500 such responses are on YouTube with many generating millions of views.

The animated parody mimics the phenomenon by showing Stewie's reaction to the contentious video.

Newton said it was the cartoon character's facial expression that ran afoul of public servants: Stewie Griffin needs to be redacted for even hinting at something that might be RC if ever assessed.

The redaction gave ammunition to critics who warned the filter will expand to cover content not originally under its mantle. And it underscored fears held by campaigners such as Newton over the types of borderline content that could be swept up.

A committee spokesman told iTnews it had exercised its discretion in not publishing the link: The committee reserves the right to exercise its discretion not to publish any submission, or part of a submission, which in its view contains objectionable material, or material that is or purports to be refused classification or links directly to refused classification material.

Newton wrote the Government had conflated the terms illegal with inappropriate in respect to proscribed content to the point where various types of legal but controversial content [were being portrayed] as if it were illegal.

Three other links included in footnotes were also redacted for pointing to RC content. They included a graffiti film and an Amazon.com web page where the banned film Ken Park could be bought on DVD.

Newton used his submission to argue that at Senator Conroy has variously portrayed types of legal but controversial content as if they were illegal. The current Government has created the manifestly false impression that material can become illegal by means of a decision by the Commonwealth Classification Board to rate it as refused classification. RC content is not, and never has been, illegal.

It is lawful for Australian citizens to possess, own, read or view, give away and purchase RC content in all forms, except in Western Australia (which has a state law which criminalises possession of RC content) and parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory associated with the Aboriginal Intervention (where possession of content rated higher than MA 15+ is an offence). It is also legal to transmit RC content over a telecommunications network everywhere except Western Australia.

The Australian Censor Board has banned the hardcore Version of Caligula submitted for DVD.

Via Vision Entertainment had their 930 minute extras-packed DVD Refused Classification. Presumably this was the Imperial Edition as released uncut in the UK and the US.

Caligula is a 1980 US/Italian film by Tinto Brass

In the UK, previous BBFC cuts were waived for the 2008 Freemantlemedia DVD

See full article from the sBBFC:

In 2008, the full uncut version of Caligula was resubmitted to the BBFC for DVD release. The passage of nearly 30 years had significantly diminished the film's impact and after careful consideration it was decided that it could now be classified '18' uncut.

This decision accords with the BBFC Guidelines, which state that At '18', the BBFC's guideline concerns will not normally override the wish that adults should be free to chose their own entertainment, within the law.

Although there are scenes in Caligula that some people will find shocking, offensive or disgusting, the film does not contain any material that is illegal in terms of current UK law and nor does it contain any material that is likely to give rise to harm for adults audiences, most of whom will be well aware of its controversial reputation.

The DVD version was classified '18' uncut with the consumer advice Contains strong violence, sexual violence and strong real sex.

Uncut region 2 DVD is available at UK Amazon
The uncut UK Blu-ray is available at UK Amazon

Uncut region 1 DVD is available at US Amazon
The uncut US Blu-ray is available at US Amazon

The government of Australia has said that it will censor almost 90% of the document showings its plan to monitor browsing habits of the ordinary citizens in the country.

The 18 page document was obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request however most of the document is blanked out. The government says that it does not want a premature debate on the issue and thus is censoring the details.

The censorship is so detailed that the document has several pages with a single word. The proposal has been criticized as the government has asked the internet service providers in the country to store some aspects of the user's online behavior.

The government has been discussing the proposal with the industry members as it would require snooping on even those who have not committed any wrong doing. All parties involved in the discussion have been asked to remain secret about the matter.

An expert from the uncensored part of the document states, The UK experience has also shown the availability of information can be of great benefit providing exculpatory evidence, allowing police to rule out a person from an investigation, and to Coroners in determining circumstances leading up to death.

The Attorney-General's Department legal officer, FoI and Privacy Section, Claudia Hernandez said after releasing the document that the release of some sections of it may lead to premature unnecessary debate and could potentially prejudice and impede government decision making.

The Australian government has delayed discussion once again on an R18+ rating. The Standing Committee of Attorneys-Generals were set to have a meeting this month to discuss implementing an R18+ ratings system, along with a host of other issues, but the meeting was cancelled due to the upcoming Federal Election.

The next meeting will take place in Canberra on November 4-5.

Police seized about 11,000 pornographic DVDs and videos from an adult book store in St Marys last week.

The suspect pornography is allegedly all unclassified, restricted content or rated X18+, which is perfectly legal to sell in most of the free world but not in New South Wales.

Police claim they were tipped off about the suspect content by the public.

Working with the Australian Censorship Board, officers from the St Marys command swarmed into the shop and seized the DVDs.

Detective Rohan Best said the business had previously been fined $25,000 for selling illegal content in 2008.

Tha Australian film censor has banned a film from screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival, a work described as gay zombie porn.

Festival director Richard Moore received a letter yesterday from the Film Classification Board director Donald McDonald, stating that L.A. Zombie, the latest offering from Canadian provocateur Bruce LaBruce, could not be screened as it would in his opinion be refused classification.

The festival is not generally required to submit films for classification, but after reading a synopsis of the plot of L.A. Zombie, which features wound penetration and implied sex with corpses, the Classification Board requested a DVD to watch, and then refused to issue an exemption.

Surely a reject if politics had a QA department

Australia's government will select an expert to manually check up to 10,000 blacklisted online web pages.

The proposal will come to fruition over the next year if Labor wins the August 21 election. Labor will take to the polls its controversial policy of mandatory ISP-level filtering of refused classification (RC) content.

An annual review of the RC content list would be conducted by an independent expert who would be appointed in consultation with industry, the government said.

A spokeswoman for Senator Conroy confirmed the expert would be a person and not an organisation. When asked if that person would enter into a browser each URL on the entire RC list to ensure its legitimacy, she said: Yes, the independent expert would be a person (such as a retired judge) and they would examine the list to ensure it includes only RC content.

Meanwhile the Coalition refused to say if it would scrap Labor's controversial mandatory ISP filter plan. It kept mum on whether a Tony Abbott-led government would resurrect NetAlert or introduce an opt-in filtering version instead. The Coalition will announce some practical and effective measures to enhance online safety and security in coming weeks, opposition communications spokesman Tony Smith said.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia's largest ISPs are to voluntarily block child abuse content, with the prospect that others might follow

But one ISP, Internode, says it has significant concerns with administration of the blacklist of child porn URLs used for the voluntary filter, and will not apply it.

Internode's regulatory and corporate affairs manager, John Lindsay, said that the child porn list contains a fraction of what would need to be blocked for it to be effective and has already been shown to contain URLs of legal content.

The list of child porn websites is maintained by the government's Australian Communications and Media Authority. But it also contains links to online poker sites, YouTube links, regular porn sites, and websites of fringe religions.

Internode is the country's sixth-largest internet service provider, with about 190,000 customers, but its refusal to voluntarily censor what the government is dubbing child porn is a bit of a blow to the government. If it could get filtering in voluntarily it would not have to make a politically unpopular decision to back the censorship scheme. It would also classify all the sites it did not like as child porn and get away with it.

Police have seized what is believed to be the biggest haul of hardcore pornography in Tasmanian history.

Acting on information provided by a police informant, Launceston detectives raided a property believed to have been a centre for the distribution of X-rated pornography.

Police said that search uncovered 15,000 to 20,000 X-rated DVDs.

Detective Constable Sarah Campbell said police would allege a man was in the process of setting up a 'shop" in the garage of his home, aiming to sell the X-rated DVDs to the public.

Australia's Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has announced that implementation of his policy would be delayed until a review of RC classification guidelines can be conducted by state and territory censorship ministers.

This is not expected to begin until at least the middle of next year.

Some sections of the community have expressed concern about whether the range of material included in the RC category ... correctly reflects current community standards, Senator Conroy said.

As the Government's mandatory ISP filtering policy is underpinned by the strength of our classification system, the legal obligation to commence mandatory ISP filtering will not be imposed until the review is completed.

In the meantime, major ISPs including Optus, Telstra and iPrimus have pledged to voluntarily block child abuse websites. This narrower, voluntary approach has long been advocated by internet experts and brings Australia into line with other countries such as Britain.

But the Government does not seem to be backing out of the deeply unpopular mandatory filtering policy altogether, as it has today announced a suite of transparency and accountability measures to address concerns about the scheme.

• an annual review of content on the blacklist by an independent expert.
• clear avenues of appeal for people whose sites are blocked.
• content will be added to the blacklist by the Classification Board, instead of the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
• affected parties will have the ability to have decisions reviewed by the Classification Review Board.
• people will know when they surf to a blocked page as a notification will appear.

The public needs to have confidence that the URLs on the list, and the process by which they get there, is independent, rigorous, free from interference or influence and enables content and site owners access to appropriate review mechanisms, Senator Conroy said.

Gamers4Croydon, the fledgling Australian political party that was created to challenge former South Australia Attorney General and notorious gaming critic Michael Atkinson, has disbanded.

Gamers4Croydon was formed last year with the intent of running game-friendly candidates in the Australian election held in March. It didn't win any seats but it did help to highlight the messy videogame situation in Australia, which doesn't have an R18 rating for games and therefore either crams games into the MA15+ category that really shouldn't be there, or simply bans them outright.

Now, in a post on the Gamers4Croydon website, founder David Doe has announced that the party is shutting down less than a year after it was formed. Doe suggested that gamers and other supporters check out political alternatives like the Greens and the Australian Sex Party, which is opposed to Australia's planned internet filter. They're the closet aligned to use ideologically and we all share many common policies, he explained.

Atkinson stepped down from his post as Attorney General soon after the March election, but Australia still has no R18 rating for videogames, and there's no sign it'll be getting on anytime soon either.

Kate Ellis kindly photoshopped by Melon Faermers

Australian magazines could be forced to carry disclaimers on any images that have been airbrushed after the government unveiled a new strategy to tackle body image and eating disorders.

Under a new code of conduct for the fashion industry, magazines must agree to refrain from heavy retouching of body parts, including the common practices of lengthening legs, removing freckles and trimming waistlines. Where photographs have been altered, the images must carry a disclaimer.

In return for agreeing to the guidelines, publications will be awarded with a body image tick, similar to the Heart Foundation's healthy food symbol.

Under the same plan, the government wants designers, advertising companies and magazines to refrain from using size-zero female models and excessively muscular male models in photoshoots or fashion shows.

While the code is voluntary, it is one of most strident moves by any country to tackle the problem of eating disorders, which 'experts' claim are triggered by unrealistic images of beauty found in film, fashion and advertising.

Kate Ellis, the Australian youth minister, admitted that the principles were small steps but said that she hoped they would help to stop the glamorisation of unhealthily thin women: Body image is an issue that we must take seriously because it is affecting the health and happiness of substantial sections of our community, she spouted.

New Prime Minister Julia Gillard has confirmed that only minimal changes will be made to her cabinet team, with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to retain his position.

Gillard this afternoon held a press conference in Canberra to detail the new cabinet. However, she did not make any new significant appointments to its ranks.

Gillard's minor cabinet reshuffle will put paid to the speculation in Australia's technology sector over the past few days that Gillard may replace Conroy with fellow Labor Senator Kate Lundy due to her long-standing commitment to the portfolio — or hand off some of his responsibilities.