Sedition laws - IPI's submission

Sun, 02 Jul 2006 20:38:31 +1000

Many of IPIâ€™s members and supporters have been active in opposing the new sedition laws. Given the number of heavyweights involved, IPIâ€™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 thatâ€™s the basis for this submission.

â€œTo 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Independent Producers Initiative submits that the provisions contained in section 80.2 of the Criminal Code should be repealed, as unnecessarily restrictive of freedom of expression, and particularly of artistic expression.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 Commissionâ€™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 Commissionâ€™s proposals set out as 10-1 and 10-2â€

Independent Producers Initiative - Media releases

Sedition laws - IPI's submission