91H   Production, dissemination or possession of child pornography

(1) Definitions
In this section:

child pornography means material that depicts or describes (or appears to depict or describe), in a manner that would in all the circumstances cause offence to reasonable persons, a person who is (or appears to be) a child:

(a)  engaged in sexual activity, or

(b)  in a sexual context, or

(c)  as the victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse (whether or not in a sexual context).

disseminate child pornography, includes:

(a)  send, supply, exhibit, transmit or communicate it to another person, or

(b)  make it available for access by another person, or

(c)  enter into any agreement or arrangement to do so.

produce child pornography includes:

(a)  film, photograph, print or otherwise make child pornography, or

(b)  alter or manipulate any image for the purpose of making child pornography, or

(c)  enter into any agreement or arrangement to do so.

(2) Production, dissemination or possession of child pornography
A person who produces, disseminates or possesses child pornography is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty: imprisonment for 10 years.

(3)  (Repealed)

(4) Defences
It is a defence to any charge for an offence under subsection (2):

(a)  that the defendant did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that he or she produced, disseminated or possessed (as the case requires) child pornography, or

(b)  that the material concerned was classified (whether before or after the commission of the alleged offence) under the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 of the Commonwealth, other than as refused classification (RC), or

(c)  that, having regard to the circumstances in which the material concerned was produced, used or intended to be used, the defendant was acting for a genuine child protection, scientific, medical, legal, artistic or other public benefit purpose and the defendant’s conduct was reasonable for that purpose, or

(d)  that the defendant was a law enforcement officer acting in the course of his or her official duties, or

(e)  that the defendant was acting in the course of his or her official duties in connection with the classification of the material concerned under the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 of the Commonwealth.

(5) Defence to possession of child pornography
It is a defence to a charge for an offence under subsection (2) not involving the production or dissemination of child pornography that the material concerned came into the defendant’s possession unsolicited and the defendant, as soon as he or she became aware of its pornographic nature, took reasonable steps to get rid of it.

(6) Alteration of images
A reference in this section to material that appears to depict or describe a person who is a child, or a person as referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of the definition of child pornography, includes a reference to material that contains or displays an image of a person that has been altered or manipulated so that the person appears to be a child, or appears as referred to in any of those paragraphs, or both.