Fisher MP Andrew Wallace is calling for urgent action to end the harms caused by childhood exposure to porn following an inquiry into age verification for online pornography and wagering.
Mr Wallace, who is Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, said children as young as eight were inadvertently exposed to hard-core, violent pornography while surfing the internet.
The inquiry recommended that the eSafety commissioner should be directed to fast-track development of a roadmap to implement mandatory age verification for online pornography.
The Government responded to the Protecting the Age of Innocence report, tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, and accepted the committee’s recommendation.
“Getting this done now is important, not just because we care about our boys, but because we care about the women they will one day meet.” Mr Wallace said.
“According to parents, teachers and the young people themselves, this has led to significant emotional, psychological, and later on in life, sexual health repercussions.
“Young women are being subjected to sexual abuse by those who are trying to emulate what is being portrayed by the porn industry as normal. This needs to end yesterday.”
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In total the Government accepted in whole or in principle five of the six recommendations.
“I welcome the Government’s response to the Protecting the Age of Innocence report, but we need urgent action on implementation right away. The hard work needs to begin right now,” he said.
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Mr Wallace drew the increasingly understood link between the issues of childhood exposure to pornography and rising domestic and family violence.
“Having chaired inquiries into both of these issues, what’s painfully clear to me now is that the prevalence of family, domestic and sexual violence is being exacerbated by the explosion of hard-core violent porn, particularly as it is being accessed by young people.”
The Protecting the Age of Innocence report can be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Social_Policy_and_Legal_Affairs/Onlineageverification/Report.
