SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Into the River ban was in ‘public interest’, Dr Don Mathieson

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Complete freedom of expression is impossible in a society that also allows censorship, says the man who has singlehandedly shut down sales of teen novel Into the River.

Don Mathieson, president of the Film and Literature Board of Review, said an interim restriction order – which makes it a crime to supply, display or distribute the award-winning book – was “in the public interest”.

“I’m just applying an act of Parliament … It’s impossible to have complete 100% freedom of expression and any form of censorship of written materials and that’s the tension we all have to live with and if anybody hasn’t got the brains to see that, then, I’m sorry . . . ”

Mathieson, speaking publicly for the first time since he issued his restriction order, said he had read Into the River“sufficiently recently to have a detailed knowledge of it”.

“I can’t comment on the merits of the book. It may have considerable merit and the board will decide whether it has or not. But the question is not how good of a bit of literature it is, but how does the act apply to it?”

His ruling remains in place until the next full meeting of the Review Board, scheduled for October 2. [Read more…]

INTERIM RESTRICTION ORDER: Into the River by Ted Dawes

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Published in The Public Notices of The Dominion Post, Thursday 10 September 2015, B8

I hearby make this interim restriction order in respect of the publication Into the River.

I am satisfied that it is in the public interest to do so.

This order is made under section 49 of the Films, Videos, and Publication Classification Act 1993.

Family First has applied to review the current decision of the Classification Office in respect of the publication, It has made submissions in support of an additional application for an interim restriction order.

The order is in the public interest for the following reasons.

  1. The classification of Into The River under the Act is a matter of wide public concern, as evidenced by the volume of submissions to the Classification Office and published comments.
  2. The decision of the Classification Office would radically alter the decision of the Board of Review.
  3. It is particularly appropriate that the Board should have an opportunity to consider the publication a fresh without being inhibited in any way by any distribution occurring between now and the date of the Board’s decision.
  4. It is debatable, and a matter of independent public interest, whether the Chief Censor acted lawfully under section 42(3)(b) of the Act in deciding that “special circumstances” exist.
  5. It is highly arguable whether the Classification Office has reached the correct conclusion on the application for reconsideration before it.
  6. The correct classification of Into the River under the Act will operate as a semi-precedent, and will exert a significant influence upon other decisions portraying teenage sex and drug-taking.

Pursuant to section 50(2) I direct that Family First must advertise the making of this Order in a daily newspaper published in each of the following cities: Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. It must serve notice of the making of this Order on all those persons who made submissions to the Classification Office in respect of the reconsideration of Into the River.

Dr D.L. Mathieson QC, President of the Film and Literature Board of Review.

3 September 2015

[Title of book Into the River highlighted in Italics and underlined]

High Court rules Family First is a charity

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A charities lawyer says charities can now speak out on political issues without fear after a landmark High Court judgment overturning the deregistration of the lobby group Family First.

Sue Barker of Wellington law firm Sue Barker Charities Law said “hundreds” of charities would be affected by the judgment, which follows on from an earlier Supreme Court judgment last August ordering the Charities Board to reconsider its deregistration of Greenpeace. [Read more…]

Rachel Kellie Whitwell: Teacher censured after appearing in porn magazines

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In its Media Release of 5 March 2011, the highly respected registered charity Family First NZ welcomed the majority decision by the New Zealand Teacher’s Council to formally censure a female primary school teacher for her “serious misconduct”  – involving her work as a porn magazine model – and ordered her deregistration (See 35 page decision The Complaints Assessment Committee v Rachel Kellie Whitwell. NZTDT 2011/7).

The Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that the defendent, aged 29, must meet the CAC’s actual and reasonable cost associated with the disciplinary proceeding and pay half the Tribunal’s costs.

“Teachers have a special status as leaders and should be respected – especially by our children,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

“Modeling and selling naked photos to a pornographic magazine doesn’t meet that standard. Associating the photos with her profession of teaching children is also unacceptable.

“These sexually explicit photos of the teacher have been published and are now in the public domain. The combined role of porn star and primary school teacher simply doesn’t fit for many families. Parents would be just as concerned if a teacher was coming to school topless or teaching that pornographic magazines are harmless. [Read more…]

Graphic sexual content in winning children’s book defended by chief judge

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Detailed descriptions of sex acts, coarse language and scenes of drug-taking are at the heart of why a novel was voted the best children’s book of the year, the award’s head judge says.

Ted Dawe’s Into the River won the top honour at the annual New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.

However, its racy content has led one bookstore to refuse to stock it, and award organisers are sending “explicit content” stickers to all booksellers to warn potential buyers.

The book uses expletives including the c-word and depicts drug use and sex scenes, including one where a baby mimics the sounds of intercourse.

The chief judge of the awards, author Bernard Beckett, said Into the River was in the young adult category, for ages 14 to 18, and was aimed at those aged 15 and older.

The content that had offended some needed to be taken in context, he said….

Bob McCoskrie, of lobby group Family First, claimed the author and judges were out to “pollute the moral innocence of kids”.

“I think every New Zealand parent would be saying, ‘What were the judges thinking?’ This is an adult book that even adults would find offensive.”

For full story see:

Otago Daily Times

Graphic content in winning children’s book defended

http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/263125/graphic-content-winning-childrens-book-defended