Aussie Anti-Gay Pol 'Not Perving to Porn'

A New South Wales politician's office seems to have done a little research into the realm of porn--or rather a lot of research: up to 200,000 hits to "suspect" online sites.

But the Rev. Fred Nile, a minister of parliament with the Christian Democratic Party, blames the multitude of putative porn viewings on another political party--the Sex Party.

"My senior researcher has conducted a lot of research into the pornography industry at my request because we have bills dealing with increasing the ban on pornographic materials," Nile told the press, according to a Sept. 2 article at the Shepparton News.

"I have not accessed or viewed any of those sites but my researcher has," added Nile, adding that the researcher had looked especially at online content from "the Sex Party, Eros Foundation and others and through those sites, they do have links to hardcore pornographic material."

Not so, declared Fiona Patten, the president of the Sex Party, who said that Nile's claim that her party provides links to hardcore porn "verging on the defamatory."

"Our site is not what you could call adult, it's the website of a political party," said Patten, who called for Nile's resignation over the claim. "I think he's using it as an excuse," she added. "For him to say our website is somehow linked to crime is verging on the defamatory. We are a federal political party," continued Patten. "I think it's time he resigned."

The hits came to light through an audit of the uses to which the parliamentary computers have been put. Nile himself uses a Blackberry, the article noted, but the 200,000 "suspect" hits were traced to his account. Nile insisted that any viewings of pornographic material were carried out for the sake of research, and said that any views of pornographic sites would have been brief.

Moreover, Nile said that the public could be assured that he never had, and never would, view pornography, telling the press that his constituents "can be quite confident in my own integrity that I have not viewed this material, nor have I had my staff sitting there perving over a pornographic film but [rather] investigating this very important social issue area."

The article noted that one minister had stepped down due to revelations that he had used the parliamentary computers to access "adult" and gambling sites. Another, unnamed official also was reported to have viewed pornography.

New South Wales is Australia's biggest state, in terms of population. Its parliament recently voted to allow same-sex families adoption parity, according to a Sept. 2 Earthtimes.org article.

The issue drew protesters and was decided by a mere two votes. Rhetoric against same-sex families flowed, reported the Shepparton News in a separate article, with one lawmaker, Andrew Stoner, declaring, "As a father of six children I know that my children have benefited from having parents of both genders, male and female."

Nile himself warned that pregnant women considering adoption might decide to have abortions rather than risk their children being adopted by gay or lesbian couples.

But another parliamentarian framed the issue as one of discrimination rather than of gay equality. "I don't believe our society should exclude because of gender, sexuality, faith, background or some other factor, people who have a contribution they can make," said Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell.