Media Release 1/02/06
In a decision dated 31 January 2006 and signed by the Chief Censor of Film and Literature, Bill Hastings, the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) has ruled that the Otago University Student Association’s Magazine CRITIC TE AROHI (Issue 23, Sept 19, 2005) is “objectionable” in terms of section 3(2)(b) and 3(2)(d) of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 (“the Act”). The Society formally submitted this obscene and offensive publication to the OFLC for classification on the 23rd of September 2005, a few days after it was published by Planet Media Dunedin Ltd. and began to be distributed freely among university students at Otago University. The Commissioner of Police (NZ) and the Drug Rape Trust (NZ) also submitted the magazine for classification.