It looks like Australia may be facing another tightening of its already notorious censorship laws, this time governing TV nudity; Australia's equivalent of the Janet Jackson nipple outrage is reality-TV-show contestants getting it on in a hot-tub, which has made it into Federal parliamentary debates:
"What we basically have is pornography and full frontal nudity on television at a time when children are watching. These people have an aspiration to be porn stars," Draper told Reuters.
It's hard to believe that this is the country that, only five years earlier, was considering introducing a "non-violent erotica" film classification.

At least Howard/Hillsong Australia c.2005 isn't quite as bad as Iran, where the government is microwaving its own population to save them from satellite-TV-borne "westoxication". The huge volumes of microwaves being pumped into population centres as Iran's elections approach are claimed to cause everything from migraines to birth defects or worse; though what are a few brain tumours compared to eternal salvation?

Posted by: gjw | http://the-fix.org | Thu Jun 23 01:48:19 2005

I'm so glad I no longer live in Trish Draper's electorate.

Posted by: dj | http:// | Thu Jun 23 07:14:08 2005

Me too.

From a complete shonk (the former Member for Makin) to a deranged 'morals crusader' who rorts the parliamentary system for her own benefit...what great representation Makin has had over the years. I remember when she was initially campaigning - she came out with some batshit ideas then. Her performance over the last several years has not surprised me.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Thu Jun 23 10:30:45 2005

How much pull does she have? Has she got a chance of actually getting tougher censorship laws or OFLC regulations through?

Posted by: gjw | http://the-fix.org | Fri Jun 24 00:23:41 2005

She seems to have a fair bit of pull. Howard loves the moral crusading stuff, and he made an appearence in her electorate a few weeks back. I get the impression she's pretty close to front of the line for a cabinet position.

It should be noted that I dont think her moral crusading is the reason most people in her electorate vote for her. It's straight mortgage-belt all the way.

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Fri Jun 24 02:47:56 2005

Sounds like real car-keys in the dish territory to me...

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Fri Jun 24 10:41:37 2005

Is that a reference to suburban swingers' "key parties" or something?

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Fri Jun 24 17:12:56 2005

Yes.

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