Of course, getting such a change of law passed by the social-conservative Tory government (which, after all, is responsible for tightening up the censorship system to its present level of Mary Whitehouse-esque prissiness and banning a fuckload of things Britons and most Americans can see freely) would be a difficult task at any time. And now, it may be even harder, given that a Tory senator's career of swashbuckling high adventure has come to light. If Senator Lightfoot, alleged to have been gallivanting around Iraq with a gun and smuggling money to an oil company, is found to have been a political liability, the government's Senate majority may disappear, and were that to happen, they would be forced to go into coalition with religious-right party Family First, who make them look like, well, liberals (they are the ones demanding a Saudi-style national internet firewall). With that looming on the horizon, it may be prudent for them to bulk up their wowser credentials, and developing a reputation for being open-minded, tolerant or otherwise "soft on filth" would be exactly the wrong thing to do.
Wow, Australia is going through a tough time of changes. The whole anti-violence/censorship/anti-gun thing in Australia just blows my mind. I always thought Australia was really progressive and modern, but every so often they seem to revert back to the US equivalent of the 1950's.
Heck, that senator sounds like a fun guy to hang around with. However, somebody should tell him that he could do all those things and more in Thailand. ;-)
What, running around with a gun and smuggling money to oil companies?
The curious thing is that they seem to be bolstering their "good Samaritan" credentials with the Family First wowsers (who actually have a policy against mandatory detention, not that that makes any more liberal overall), with all that stuff about reconsidering the refugee applications of those who have changed religion - to Christianity, funnily enough. So that also ties into your theory.