Government urged to move on child porn law

A Nelson pornographer jailed for a year would have got up to 10 years' jail if the Government had supported a new law, United Future MP Marc Alexander said today.

Jason Gorman, 34, was sentenced yesterday in Nelson District Court after being convicted of 36 charges of possessing objectionable material and 17 charges of copying objectionable material for distribution. He was refused home detention.

Gorman had about 30,000 encrypted files on his computer and the department was able to prove that at least 5000 of those were of children being sexually abused and sexually posed, the statement said.

Judge David McKegg said the files graphically displayed the victimisation of children and were "awful and unreasonably sad".

Mr Alexander described the sentence as a "wet bus ticket" but said child pornographers would get weak sentences until the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Bill was passed.

The bill increases penalties for possession of child pornography to up to two years' jail and those for distribution to up to 10 years' jail.

Current penalties are fines of up to $2000 per charge of possession, and fines of up to $20,000 on an individual or up to $50,000 on an organisation, or jail terms of up to one year for an individual for distributing objectionable material.

The bill was reported back last August but had not yet had its second reading.

Mr Alexander accused the Government of placing more importance on legalising same-sex relationships and stopping people smoking in bars than on stopping child abuse.

"If Justice Minister Phil Goff thinks one year in jail for taking part in the sexual exploitation of children is sufficient, let him come out and say so," he said in a statement.

"If not, then let him tell New Zealanders when putting away those who prey on kids will be a top Government priority."

- NZPA