From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli

REALISTICALLY, it is nigh-on impossible to stop minors from accessing adult on-line material — even with the most sophisticated parental control applications! A recent survey of teenagers revealed the balance and understanding of their budding relationships is being perilously jeopardised by an excess of adult content.

Self-preservation and reproduction are two of the dominant basic instincts. Adults — men and women, spend a deal of time online viewing adult content and participating in available services. The nature of the industry precludes reliable data but considered estimates suggest a worth around $15-billion annually.

Since the Garden of Eden, sexuality has been fundamental to emotional vagaries. In the last 50-years, social attitudes and taboos embracing every aspect of sexual debate and permissive behaviour have alerted drastically. Prior to the advent of digital cameras, negatives deemed obscene were routinely destroyed by processing laboratory staff at Kodak. Today, full frontal nudity is commonplace. The sending of adult data via email and text messages is widespread. Explicit sex scenes de rigueur

In 2013-14, three Victorian postal-workers appealed following their dismissal for using Australia Post’s email system to distribute sexually explicit material. In a split judgement, the full bench of the Fair Work Commission deemed the terminations harsh, unfair, and ordered their reinstatement. The judgement found Australia Post had failed to enforce its own workforce standards, arguing, over years successive managers had received such material and failed to warn senders of a workplace breach; consequently, the commissioners declared: “no harm caused” by the action. Their reliance on law notwithstanding, and without consulting every recipient, it would be reasonable to question the academic efficacy of their definitive psychological verdict. Categorically, evidence shows marijuana has led to more serious drug abuse; similarly, repeated exposure to pornographic material has, in some instances, lead to serious sex crimes.

Bafflingly, the commissioners declared dismissing employees for the accessing, receiving, or storing of pornography was a proposition inconsistent with basic principles. Arguably, conflating traditional workplace practices with modern technological developments is futile. Ultimately, the Federal Court upheld the decision, establishing a legal precedent: while potentially serious, emailing pornography at work does not per se merit automatic dismissal.

It is outrageous to posit the terminating of employees using an employer’s email to distribute pornography violates their workplace rights and practices. Offenders should be sacked! Pornography is a harmful scourge — particularly to vulnerable, inquisitive children

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) review (2016) raised concerns about the impacts pornography may have on children and young people’s knowledge of, and attitudes to, sex; their sexual behaviours and practices; attitudes and behaviours regarding gender equality; behaviours and practices within their own intimate, sexual or romantic relationships; and the risk of experiencing or perpetrating sexual violence. Research from the eSafety commissioner revealed 75 per cent of Australian children aged 16-18 had viewed online porn; nearly 40 per cent first accessed it before they were 13, and almost 10 per cent before they were 10.

Cognisant of the disquieting domestic criminal assault statistics, the Federal Court’s decision is perplexing — even emboldening. Empirical evidence indicates pornography reinforces attitudes supportive of violence against women, and in the extreme, homicide. Universally, governments are struggling to implement meaningful barriers to counter its proliferation. Random computer-generated images are concerning.

We should applaud and support the federal governments implacable resolve to protect the youth of the Nation from wicked evils. Contact : [email protected]