Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Classification Tools and Other Measures) Bill 2014, which contains the first significant steps in reforming our classification system under this government.

The importance of a classification system for books, movies and games should not be underestimated in our community. An effective classification system ensures that consumers can make an informed judgement before they decide how to best spend their leisure time. Adults can make the decision to steer clear of offensive material and children can be protected from content only suitable for people beyond their years by their parents.

Classification schemes can even be used to provoke debate. Consider the voluntary introduction of the Bechdel classification in some cinemas in Sweden. This classification system ranks films on how they depict women, sparking a broader discussion on the current portrayal of women in film. In contrast, an ineffective system can at best be misleading for consumers and at worst can actually interfere with the creative process.

Stories abound in Hollywood of movies being significantly rewritten in order to achieve a lower rating and so receive wider distribution. A notorious example of this is the film Bully, directed by Lee Hirsch and produced by The Weinstein Company. It contained an important educational lesson for school children about the emotional impact of bullying. However, the Motion Picture Association of America classified it with a restrictive rating and so it could not be shown to children under 17. It took months of negotiation before this classification was eventually overturned after the film had been re-edited. So an effective classification is one that informs but does not interfere. It must also be one that stays relevant to the types of media that it is classifying.

Our classification system is in need of an update. Over the past 20 years, we have seen an explosion in the types of entertainment content available to us as consumers and how they can be viewed. Movies and television are no longer just the domain of the movie theatre or the couch at home but can be viewed on iPads, mobile phones, in the seats of planes, in shopping centres and wherever a screen can be placed. The variety, complexity and quality of games are immense, as they range from games downloaded from an app store to entertainment systems that can be photo-realistic. Material like Heavy Rain blurs the line between movie and computer game, and Game of Thrones blurs the line between television show and movie. But our current National Classification Scheme has remained largely unchanged since 1996, which was an era when the digital revolution was only beginning to kick into gear. It was an era when watching a movie at home meant turning on the VCR and when the Nintendo 64 had just been released. If you compare the variety of forms of entertainment now to the variety then, the difference is tremendous. Many of these new forms fall between the cracks of our ageing classification system. A good example, mentioned in the explanatory memorandum of the bill under consideration, is that of computer games on mobile phones, which are not currently classified online prior to their sale to Australian shoppers. These gaps create the potential not only for consumer harm but also for competitive distortions as certain media are subjected to lesser or greater levels of regulation than others.

The previous Labor government realised the importance of an effective classification system. It was committed to making the system more versatile and relevant for all who use it, but the entertainment world has many stakeholders with many competing interests. The Labor government realised the importance of having recommendations be made by an independent body. This would ensure that reforms were properly assessed and that the appropriate balance would be struck between these many stakeholders. That is why the then Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, referred the National Classification Scheme to the Australian Law Reform Commission in 2011 to assess the impact that technological changes were having on the Classification Scheme. This was the first review of the classification system since the ALRC report on censorship procedure in 1991, which led to the establishment of the classification act in 1996—a review that occurred, once again, under a Labor government.

The 2011 review of the National Classification Scheme undertook extensive consultation—it received almost 1,500 submissions for its issues paper alone—and produced a 400-page report. I was one of the participants in this review and can attest to its comprehensive nature. The report contained 57 recommendations for updating the current classification system. The Labor government took these recommendations and began the process to make them a reality. The former Minister for Justice and Minister for Home Affairs Jason Clare introduced an act to introduce a Restricted R18+ classification rating for computer games in Australia—one of the key recommendations of the report and a step that had been long discussed and long deferred and took the leadership of a bold minister to implement. This act has allowed for restricted games to be sold in Australia, meaning that those who are mature enough to experience these games have the freedom to purchase them legally. Labor also secured the agreement of the Standing Council on Law and Justice in April 2013 for six of the recommendations listed in the ALRC report to be implemented. It is these recommendations that we see in the bill before us today.

It is pleasing to see that the coalition has followed the good work of Labor in supporting the reform of our classification system. We are glad the coalition has realised the importance of ensuring we have a relevant and responsive classification system, and support the reforms included in the bill under consideration today. The reforms contained in the bill are an important response to the changes brought about by a contemporary digital world. They eliminate arbitrary legal distinctions between different forms of content that have no resemblance to the technological reality of our contemporary entertainment industry. They make it easier to ascertain classification arrangements for festivals and cultural institutions. They use the knowledge and expertise of content producers to make a more relevant and inexpensive classification system. They ensure that the classification of entertainment products is displayed upon the products, ensuring maximum awareness for consumers of the nature of the content contained within. They speed up the process of removing extremely offensive or illegal content from distribution.

The legal world often throws up ludicrous anomalies that cost time and money for the parties which they affect. We can see examples of such anomalies sprinkled throughout the current classification act. These include the separate legal classifications of a film in 3D and a film in 2D, meaning both films have to be classified separately, even if they are the same film. I feel for the official at the Classification Board who had to watch Transformers: Dark of the Moon not once but twice because of this anomaly. Moreover, if slight alterations are made to an entertainment product's content, then the entire product must be reclassified, even if the modification does not affect the original classification. The bill under consideration before us today has eliminated these artificial legal constructs and nonsenses. It will result in a classification system that is more in line with reality, which will save considerable time and money for our creative minds trying to follow their legal obligations.

We also see the reality of our modern world reflected in the changes to the classification system for festivals and cultural institutions. Under the previous legal regime, festivals had to apply to the Classification Board for a formal exemption from the classification requirements. The reforms contained in the bill under consideration will first consolidate the various state and territory requirements by consolidating the rules in the Commonwealth classification act, which will then streamline requirements around Australia. The bill will then abolish the requirement for festivals to receive a formal exemption, giving festivals around the country more flexibility in their use of entertainment material. This will save time and money for thousands of festival organisers around the country, allowing them to focus on what they do best: organising the variety of festivals that make Australia's culture so great.

A move that is particularly forward thinking is a shift in the way that films undergo the classification process. Under the current act all applications are assessed by the Classification Board. With over 6,000 applications assessed only last year, this process was extremely lengthy and was a significant cost to content providers. These reforms pave the way for the use of the International Age Rating Coalition, a revolutionary new device where the legwork needed to classify publications, movies and games is taken away from the centralised body. The IARC allows the producers of entertainment products to fill in a questionnaire and classify material that clearly falls into one of several ratings categories. A movie or film that clearly falls into a certain category of rating will receive that rating automatically, but if there is disagreement, or if the content falls on the edge of two ratings systems, the entertainment material would be referred to the Classification Board and rated traditionally.

This is a worthy change to the way our classification system is run. It will significantly reduce the time and effort spent by a few individuals at the Classification Board, allowing them to focus on the cases where the rating of entertainment material is legitimately in doubt. It means the seventh season of Dora the Explorer does not need to undergo the full classification process before being given a 'General' rating. The cumulative effect is a classification system that will become more efficient, with lower costs. It is a system that is gathering support around the world in countries such as the US, UK, Brazil and New Zealand. If there is any concern about the rating of a piece of entertainment, all decisions are reviewable by the Classification Board, where ultimate power rests.

The reform that will be most obvious to everyday consumers is the requirement that all classified content have the relevant classification markings displayed. This will ensure that consumers are fully aware of the classification given to the content in question. It will make it clear if any content has slipped through the cracks and has not been classified, because no markings will be displayed. This may seem to be a small change, but in enforcing this change a lot more information will become available to the consumers of Australia.

These reforms achieve significant benefits for the versatility and applicability of our classification system. They create a system that is responsive to new forms of entertainment but still contain sufficient powers to prevent offensive material from being accessed by those who do not wish to see it. These are merely the first tranche of reforms needed to bring our classification system firmly into the digital age. There are still 51 recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission's report on areas where our classification system could benefit from reform. The reforms in the bill under consideration today only address how entertainment is classified but they do not address what those classification standards are.

Labor believes the path to prosperity in the next century lies in the digital domain. The regulatory system surrounding this digital world must be flexible enough to encourage such prosperity. We must have a classification system flexible enough to encourage the imagination and creativity of our young entrepreneurs, and we must have a classification system that allows consumers to understand the content of the movie they are about to watch or the game they are about to play. A classification system that becomes more and more out of date will not only be a relic but also restrict the creativity of our young artists and filmmakers. We just need to look at the impact of the Hays code in the United States and the significant change in the nature of films produced in Hollywood once it was abandoned in the late 1960s. While the bill under consideration takes significant steps in the right direction, more work is needed to make sure that our classification system is ready for this digital future. I call on Minister Keenen and the Abbott government to implement the remainder of reforms found in the ALRC report on the National Classification Scheme. We must make sure that our classification system encourages the work of our artists, filmmakers and festival organisers.

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