Many of IPI’s members and supporters have been active in opposing the new sedition laws. Given the number of heavyweights involved, IPI’s formal submission is brief.

It should not be possible  to be charged with a crime for exploring ideas on screen or in print ,  in dramas, in documentaries and  as satire or any other artistic form.
 If as seems inevitable, the new sedition laws will be retained in some form, they should be clarified so that only genuinely and deliberately inciting others  to violence could  be considered an offence. So that’s the basis for this submission.

“To the Australian Law Reform Commission:

The Independent Producers Initiative Inc (IPI)  is an association of Australian feature film producers. IPI's members and supporters include many of  the most experienced and successful feature film producers currently working around Australia, and some of its most promising emerging producers. Producers are the people who lead and represent all  the artists and the craftspeople of filmmaking in the process of translating ideas onto the screen. We believe that all  people in Australia have the right to engage freely in artistic and political debate and exploration. It should not be possible  to be charged with a crime for exploring ideas on screen or in print ,  in dramas, in documentaries and  as satire or any other artistic form.

 Accordingly, the Independent Producers Initiative submits that the provisions contained in section 80.2 of the  Criminal Code should be repealed,  as unnecessarily restrictive of freedom of expression, and particularly of artistic expression.

If the provisions are to be retained in any form,  IPI strongly supports the Commission’s proposals set out at 8-8 , 8-9 and 8-10.
 In connection with the defences to charges under s 80.2 , IPI supports the Commission’s proposals set out as 10-1 and 10-2”