The Senate communications committee will hold a snap public hearing into the bill on Friday. The inquiry was set up after Communications Minister Paul Fletcher introduced the bill to Parliament last week,just 10 days after a consultation period on an exposure draft closed.
Eros Association,a peak body for the adult industry,is concerned the laws will result in “unintended consequences”,such as a purging of explicit content by some platforms,including sex worker profiles,so as to avoid falling foul of the laws.
“As drafted,the online content scheme would provide for the removal of many forms of adult content impacting the livelihood of producers,sex workers,adult retailers and adult entertainment venues,” general manager Rachel Payne said in a written submission to the inquiry.
The government received more than 300 submissions on the draft bill,none of which have been made public,fuelling concerns the feedback was not properly considered before Mr Fletcher tabled the legislation.
Scarlet Alliance,the national peak sex worker organisation,said a three-day working window to make submissions to the Senate inquiry was “unreasonably short”.
“We are concerned that the bill,which gives substantial powers to an unelected official to do a large body of regulatory work with minimal oversight,is being rushed through Parliament,” the alliance said in its submission.