Australia would like to see your porn collection

By Nate Anderson

The Australian Sex Party is not a major player (no pun intended) on the political scene, with only 2,000 members and a couple of staffers. But the group made news across Australia this week when it highlighted a little-noticed change to the country's Incoming Passenger Cards—a new question about pornography.

Most people entering Australia must fill out the customs card, which asks whether they are carrying food items, wood products, steroids, illegal drugs, or huge quantities of cash. For the last few months, the card has also asked if they are carrying "pornography."

Those who answer "yes" will apparently be taken for screening to ensure that they are not bringing banned material, such as images of child sex abuse, into the country.

Sex Party President Fiona Patten is appalled. "If you and your partner have filmed or photographed yourselves making love in an exotic destination or even taking a bath, you will have to answer ‘Yes’ to the question or you will be breaking the law," she said. "Is it fair that Customs officers rummage through someone’s luggage and pull out a legal men’s magazine or a lesbian journal in front of their children or their mother-in-law?"

Now with more questions about pornography!

If the pornography is contained on a laptop or other electronic device, it appears that customs agents will have the authority to examine the devices for evidence of illegal material. The move is part of Australia's current crackdown on illegal pornographic material, best illustrated by the country's proposed Internet filtering system.

Patten says that the current laws governing customs searches say nothing about "pornography," and that the change is an illicit overreach in authority.

Jim Wallace disagrees. He runs the Australian Christian Lobby, and he told The Age newspaper that the policy made sense. "'If I've got wooden products, I take them to customs to decide whether my wooden products have to be confiscated, have to be fumigated, or if I can go through with it," he said. "I see no difference in the approach that's being applied here with pornography.''