Porn DVDs 'low priority' for police

Perth sex shops can continue to sell X-rated DVDs illegally without fear of prosecution.

WA Police has admitted that enforcing the State's movie classification laws on adult pornography is "a non-core police activity" and "a low priority".

The police will investigate the sale of X-rated DVDs only if there is evidence of tangible links to organised crime.

In October last year, Attorney-General Christian Porter confirmed that it was an offence to sell X-rated DVDs under Section 81 of WA's Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Enforcement Act 1996. Offenders faced a $10,000 fine.

Yet _The West Australian _ was able to buy three X-rated DVDs from three city sex shops. They were bought off the shelf and came with the X18+ warning that they contained "sexually explicit material".

When told of this, Mr Porter said it was the responsibility of the police to prosecute.

But nine months later, there have still been no prosecutions.

A spokeswoman for Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said police had to prioritise resources to areas of greatest demand and need.

"WA Police maintains the view that the Classifications Branch of the Federal Attorney-General's Department is the most appropriate agency to investigate breaches of classification and copyright due to its considerable knowledge and experience," she said.

"Referrals from the Classifications Branch are examined for organised crime involvement. Where there is no link identified, these matters are recorded on WAPol's database and filed for intelligence purposes only. The majority of other State jurisdictions adopt the same position and maintain that X-Rated adult pornography is essentially a non-core police activity and of low priority for police law enforcement."

Sex shops started selling X-rated DVDs early last year when they decided that the State's 14-year-old movie classification laws contravened their constitutional right to trade interstate. X-rated DVDs can be sold legally in Canberra and the Northern Territory and were previously available to WA customers by mail order.

The vice-president of the WA branch of the Australian Family Association, Gillian Gonzalez, said the police "low priority" response was not good enough.

She said the issue of adult pornography was more serious than the police seemed to think and she would seek a meeting with Mr Porter and the Police Minister Rob Johnson.