Participants
Australian Law Reform Commission President Professor Rosalind Croucher Commissioner in Charge Professor Terry Flew Commissioners The Hon Justice Berna Collier, Part-time Commissioner The Hon Justice Susan Kenny, Part-time Commissioner Executive Director Sabina Wynn Legal Team Bruce Alston, Acting Principal Legal Officer Jared Boorer, Senior Legal Officer Justine Clarke, Senior Legal Officer Michele Reddy, Senior Policy …
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Read moreCanada
OverviewDriven by a constitutional right to ‘freedom of expression’, classification of content in Canada is largely unregulated. Canada has adopted many of the standards and classification methods used in the US.FilmCanadian law makes the classification of films, DVDs and computer games the responsibility of the provinces and territories. Some provinces require classification of all films, …
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Read moreAppendix 1. Agencies, Organisations and Individuals Consulted
Name Location Mark Armstrong, Executive Director, Network Insight Sydney, June 2011 Michael Atkins, Sony Pictures; Lori Flekser, Motion Pictures Distributors Association of Australia Sydney, October 2011 Robyn Ayres, Executive Director; Jo Teng, Solicitor, Arts Law Centre of Australia Sydney, July 2011 Chris Berg, Research Fellow, Institute of Public Affairs Melbourne, October 2011 Barbara Biggins, …
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Read moreThe Regulator
14.20 The ALRC’s recommendation for a single regulator is a central element of the new National Classification Scheme, and arises as a consequence of regulating the classification of films, television, publications, computer games and online media content under a framework that can be more flexible and adaptive in the context of media convergence.14.21 Combining a …
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Read moreFunctions of the Regulator
14.52 The Regulator’s functions should be based upon functions that are currently performed by the AGD in administering the classification scheme for publications, films and computer games; and the ACMA, in relation to online and mobile content and broadcast television.14.53 In addition, while the Classification Board would be retained, some of its present functions, in …
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Read moreInternational cooperation
12.75 Alongside efforts to identify effective filtering strategies in Australia, there are international schemes which are working towards limiting the distribution of child sexual abuse content on the internet. There are four international schemes with this objective. International cooperation is vital to efforts to stop the distribution of child abuse material.Internet Watch Foundation12.76 The Internet …
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Read moreProhibitions online
12.39 This section outlines the existing methods employed to address RC content online. The Classification of Media Content Act should provide for similar methods of stopping the distribution of Prohibited content.12.40 The ACMA is required to investigate complaints made about online content defined as ‘prohibited content’ under the Broadcasting Services Act. As has been explained, …
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Read moreReasonable steps to restrict access
10.63 This section provides an overview of some of the key methods of restricting access, online and offline, to adult content.[57] While the new Act should provide for essential requirements for restricting access, the various ‘reasonable steps’ that different types of content provider might be expected to take should be prescribed in industry codes, approved …
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Read moreBackground
This is the first comprehensive review of censorship and classification since the ALRC report, Censorship Procedure, published in 1991 (ALRC Report 55). That report recommended a legislative framework that would enable the Commonwealth, states and territories to take a national approach to classification. Its recommendations formed the basis of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer …
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Read moreKey features
In this Report, the ALRC recommends a new classification scheme for a new convergent media landscape. The key features of the ALRC’s model are: Platform-neutral regulation—one legislative regime establishing obligations to classify or restrict access to content across media platforms. Clear scope of what must be classified—that is feature films, television programs and certain computer …
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