Child pornography laws in Australia prohibit all sexual depictions of children under an age set by state and territory legislation. The relevant ages are under 16 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, under 17 in South Australia, and under 18 in the other jurisdictions and under federal law. The laws covering child pornography are differently defined in the various Australian jurisdictions, as are the penalties. The laws also cover depictions of sexual acts involving people over the threshold age who are simulating or otherwise alluding to being underage, even if all those involved are of a legal age. People have been successfully prosecuted after describing acts of abuse via MMS. The possession, production, distribution, import, export, sale, or access over the internet of child pornography is punishable by a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and/or a fine up to A$275,000 as well as sex offender register requirements. It is interesting that possession of general pornography is not illegal in any state, while possession of children pornography carries significant penalties. Furthermore, most convictions in this respect are for possession of child pornography and there have been only a few convictions for production of such material. Furthermore, there is a zero-tolerance policy in place, which covers real children as well as purely fictional children. Operation Auxinin September 2004 led to the arrest of almost 200 people on charges of child pornography, and "sting" operations are common.
In August 2007, an Australian was sentenced to pay an A$9,000 fine for attempting to import eight DVDs of Japanese anime and hentai found to contain pornographic depictions of children and 14 found to contain depictions of sexual violence. No images of real children were involved. "Customs National Manager Investigations, Richard Janeczko, said that it was important to understand that even cartoons or drawings such as those depicted in anime were prohibited if they contained offensive sexual content."
Other cartoon depictions
Also, in December 2008, a New South Wales Supreme Court judge, Justice Michael Adams, ruled to uphold a magistrate's decision that a pornographic cartoon parodying characters on The Simpsons was child pornography, because "t follows that a fictional cartoon character, even one which departs from recognisable human forms in some significant respects, may nevertheless be the depiction of a person within the meaning of the Act." The appellant, Alan John McEwan, was fined $3000 Aus. Judge Adams explained the law was appropriate because cartoons could "fuel demand for material that does involve the abuse of children", also adding "A cartoon character might well constitute the depiction of such a person". A BBC reporter summarized the judge's decision: "he decided that the mere fact that they were not realistic representations of human beings did not mean that they could not be considered people". This case has attracted international attention, alongside attention to more local cases, with author Neil Gaiman commenting on it: "I suspect the Judge might have just granted human rights to cartoon characters. I think it's nonsensical in every way that it could possibly be nonsensical."
Case concerning a written work
In March 2011, a Tasmanian man was convicted of possessing child pornography after police investigators discovered an electronic copy of a nineteenth-century written work, The Pearl by Anonymous on his computer. Harper Collins is the most recent publisher of The Pearl, which is available for purchase within Australia. However the conviction was overturned on appeal.
