Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the motion this evening, and I want to illustrate the importance of this motion by way of a recent interaction I had with a local constituent in the northern suburbs of South Australia, where I am the paired senator. My first opportunity to come into contact with this single mother with three children was through a deputation she made to the local council. She bravely approached the local council, which is a very brave thing to do, bringing to their attention the presence of a particular book called Let's Talk About It. This is not the book that Senator Babet referred to but is a book containing graphic depictions of sexual practices, adult concepts and in one instance a detailed manifesto, if you like, as to how to send naked selfies across the internet. The book was marketed at children, and she was alarmed by the fact that it was available to children in the library and was completely unclassified.

This brave mother took her fight to the council. She then took it to the ombudsman. She took it to a number of politicians, and finally she took it to the Classification Board, which cost her the princely sum of around $800 in order to have this book considered for classification. She put together a submission, outlined her concerns and sought a waiver of the fee, I might say, which was rejected. Bearing her own costs and using her own time, this brave mother sought to have this book classified so it could at least be removed from public libraries, where children like her own were likely to see the book in circulation. Ultimately, she went round and round the mulberry bush, so to speak. The Classification Board rejected the application, and the book remains unclassified. She's now been told that she can send it off to the Classification Review Board for the princely sum of $10,000, which she of course does not have.

I raise this in the context of this motion, which I support, because this interaction highlights the frailties of the system. As Senator Roberts rightly pointed out earlier, the prevalence of this material in local libraries and our children now being subjected to this material was never conceived of when the law was enacted in 1995 and through subsequent amendments. This piece of legislation has an enormous loophole, in my view, one I raised during the last Senate estimates hearings with the director. The issue is that books are not automatically reviewed, as is the case for films and movies. In fact, publications are subject to a self-reporting requirement for the publisher, and the publisher is only required to do that if it is submittable content. Therefore, it is a value judgement placed on the publisher.

Through that loophole these books are finding their way into circulation and into libraries, where children have the opportunity to see them. The onus is being put upon private citizens like this brave mother to seek their classification, and there are other instances I'm aware of where private citizens have sought classification of these books. This simply cannot be right. It cannot be accepted, and we simply cannot have this material in the hands of our kids remaining unclassified. As Senator Babet said, kids grow up too fast these days. Parents don't need to be concerned about what kids might be borrowing from the library and bringing home.

The issue of sexual education is not the issue here. That's been around since time immemorial. But these books are ostensibly trojan horses for radical gender theory dressed up as sex education for our kids, and we need to call them out for what they are. These are not simple education manuals. They are books enclosing radical gender theory, and we need to have this review. I support the motion and I encourage all those in this chamber that care about the kids to support the motion as well.