Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Urgent Interim Classification of Publications and Prevention of Online Harm) Amendment Bill

The closing date for submissions is Thursday, 01 April 2021

This bill proposes to update the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 to allow for urgent prevention and mitigation of harm caused by objectionable publications.

The bill would:

• ​make livestreaming of objectionable content a criminal offence
• enable the Chief Censor to issue time-limited interim classification assessments of publications 
• allow the issuing of take-down notices for objectionable online content
• subject online content hosts to a civil pecuniary penalty if they do not comply with an issued take-down notice 
• facilitate the set up of future mechanisms for blocking or filtering objectionable online content.

This bill is available online from the ‘Related links’ panel.

What do you need to know?

• Submissions are publicly released and published to the Parliament website. Only your name or organisation’s name is required on a submission. Please keep your contact details separate, as if they are included on the submission they will become publicly available when the submission is released.
• If you wish to include information of a private or personal nature in your submission you should discuss this with the clerk of the committee before submitting.
• If you wish to speak to your submission, please state this clearly.

Further guidance on making a submission can be found from the ‘How to make a submission’ link in the ‘Related documents’ panel.

If you have any questions about your submission or the submission process please contact the Committee Staff through the contact details provided on this page.