Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Assessments and Advertising) Bill 2008 has a couple of aims, which are to allow advertising of unclassified films and computer games and to allow the industry more influence in the classification of boxed sets of DVDs of programs broadcast on television. Family First is concerned that some of the changes in the bill seem to undermine the involvement of the Classification Board in what otherwise would be its day-to-day work. That is why Family First took this legislation out of non-controversial into controversial—to ensure that there was greater scrutiny of this bill going forward. It was Family First who brought it out of the non-controversial into controversial.

Family First is not aware of any public debate on increasing the industry’s involvement in classification. But Family First is concerned about the effectiveness of industry self-regulation in areas likes this where there is a commercial incentive to push the regulatory boundaries. Television classifiers are always under pressure to squeeze the programs they have into a commercially advantageous timeslot. It would not help a television network to have spent big money on a television series but not be able to maximise its viewers because the rating given to the program forced it into a later timeslot. That is just commercial reality.

Last year, the policy function of the Office of Film and Literature Classification, OFLC, was merged into the Attorney-General’s Department, and the Classification Board is now confined to classification work. Family First has had concerns in the past about some of the work by the OFLC and it is hopeful that an office in the Attorney-General’s Department might be more accountable to the public through the minister than the old system. But Family First does not want to move from a system that is accountable to the public to a system of increasing industry self-regulation, which is less accountable to the public. As far as Family First is aware, there is no resource problem with the Classification Board being able to do its work of being an independent classifier of films and computer games. Family First would be concerned if this were part of a move to shift more and more responsibility to the industry in a bid to marginalise or get rid of the Classification Board over time.

The bill makes changes to the current system for advertising films. It formalises a system whereby the industry assesses the classification of films so they can advertise well in advance of formal classification by the Classification Board. The industry has a quota of films where that can happen, but this bill opens the system up completely. Family First is concerned about the advertising of yet-to-be-classified films—that is, films that have not been classified, on the grounds that, when the industry determines a preliminary film classification and gets it wrong and the content of the trailer is inappropriate, children can be confronted by an ad classified at a higher classification than the film they actually came to see.

There was a move under the coalition government last year to loosen regulation on the film industry’s advertising of yet-to-be-classified films. I understand the industry was concerned that the final cut of films was often not received until late, which made it difficult to get films classified fast enough to advertise them. It was argued that the industry knew the content of the films better, so they could make an advance assessment of the likely film classification. But allowing industry a free hand on this does risk cinema audiences seeing, for example, violence at a higher level than the film will eventually be classified at. In the case that classification is inaccurate, it could involve exposing children to violent material.

The bill also makes changes to how boxed DVD sets are classified. Family First does not agree with the legislation allowing industry classifiers to recommend the classification of boxed sets of TV programs on DVD. There have been a number of examples of how the industry and the classification body are in disagreement on the appropriate classification for particular films. For example, some cartoon series, like Transformers or Power Rangers, have been broadcast on TV as G-rated but when sold on DVD the Office of Film and Literature Classification classified them as PG. The Line of Beauty TV series was screened on TV as an M-rated program but when it was classified by the Classification Board it was given a rating of MA15+ for the box set. It was the same story for Robin Hood, which was screened on ABC-TV as PG but sold on DVD as an M-rated box set. The series The War was screened on television on Sunday afternoons as PG but classified by the board as M for a box set. This is despite the TV and DVD versions not differing significantly.

If passed, this bill would give extra weight to recommendations made by the industry classifiers which may well be based on the classification used by the TV network that screened the program. Family First is not anti-industry but recognises that the industry has different motives from the government regulator’s. Industry classifiers are under pressure to classify programs so that they fit into the broadcast times that their employer wants. There will always be the temptation to stretch the boundaries. The Classification Board has expertise and resources independent of such pressures. On a positive note, it is a good and positive step that the legislation will stop the advertising of PG films with G-rated films. There has been some concern about the trailers, sometimes screened as advertising during kids’ films, which have contained material inappropriate for children.

Family First will be moving amendments in the committee stage to make sure that the classification system is not further undermined by allowing unclassified films to be advertised. Family First will also move an amendment to stop giving the industry greater role in the classification of box sets and TV programs when they go to DVD.