21st September 1999

Mr. John Lamont
Freedom of Information Coordinator
Department of Equity and Fair Trading
PO Box 106
Brisbane Albert Street 4000

Dear Sir, Freedom of Information Application
I hereby request, under the Freedom of Information Act, copies of all documentary evidence relating to the Government's announcement that the ban on Restricted publications in Queensland would remain in place, as outlined in the Minister's Press Release "Tougher guidelines on pornography" on 16th September 1999 wherein the Minister said "The changes make no difference to the Queensland ban on restricted publications. The ban will stand and there are no plans to abolish it."

This request includes but is not limited to:

(a) any evidence that there is substantial community support for the proposition that adults in Queensland are incapable of making their own decisions about choice of reading material;

(b) any evidence that the attitudes, lifestyles and viewpoints of Queenslanders are so different from those of citizens of other states of the Commonwealth as to warrant the continuation of this policy of previous governments;

(c) copies of the results of any surveys or public opinion polls, including questions asked, conducted by the government or other parties that have been used to support this decision;

(d) any other reports or documentation relating to research or analysis conducted by the Government or other parties that has been used to support this decision;

(e) any reports of reviews of this policy conducted by the government;

(f) copies of any documents concerning the original justification of this ban;

(g) copies of any correspondence between the Minister or the Minister's office and departmental staff, other Ministers, or staff of other departments, notes of any telephone conversations between respective officers, copies of any email or voicemail messages between respective officers, relating to this application;

(h) copies of any memo, post-it message or accompanying "with compliments" note relating to items (a) to (g) above;

(i) copies of minutes, or relevant extracts thereof, of meetings of Commonwealth, State and Territory Censorship Ministers concerning the reasoning behind Queensland's continuing ban on Restricted publications.

I enclose the required application fee of $30. However, I request that the application be considered as eligible for exemption from fees on the grounds that the matter affects the freedom of the public to make their own decisions about the kinds of material they wish to read, and is therefore a matter of public interest.

If there are any queries about this application, I can be contacted during business hours on ...

Yours faithfully,

Greg Taylor
Vice-chair
Electronic Frontiers Australia