SPCS

Saturday, 12 November 2005

In his Office’s Annual Report 2005, the Chief Censor, Bill Hastings, has effectively hailed the 22 February 2005 – the day “the first substantial amendments to the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act came into force” – as marking a “fresh era” in censorship: “One would be entitled to observe,” he writes, “that the increased penalties, the additional, targeted jurisdiction, and the more comprehensive nature of the labeling system, marked 22 February 2005 as the first day of a fresh era for New Zealand’s classification system.” (p. 5).

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DOMINION POST, 10 November 2005, A2.

by ANNA CHALMERS

THE Government is being accused of sloppy housekeepng after it was revealed that eight members of the censorship board are serving in positions that expired 15 months ago.

Jobs for all but one of the nine members on the Film & Literature Board of Review expired in May last year. It does independent reviews of classifications by the Office of Film and Literature Classification for publications. Though the Films [Videos and Publications Classification] Act [1993] allows some delay in reappointing members – who can sit on the board for up to six years – the situation is “unprecedented”, Society for the Promotion of Community Standards spokesperson David Lane said.

Internal Affairs had given a number of “lame duck” excuses for why the board had not been reappointed. “It’s just slackness on the part of the former minister [George Hawkins].”

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