Society for the Promotion of Community Standards

The Society for the Promotion of Community Standards (SPCS) is a conservative Christian-dominated organisation in New Zealand. The Society's objectives include the encouragement of "self-respect and the dignity of the human person, made in the image of God", the "recognition of the sanctity of human life and its preservation in all stages", and the promotion of "wholesome personal values, including strong family life and the benefits of lasting marriage".

The Society for Promotion of Community Standards Incorporated ("SPCS") was registered as an incorporated society under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 on 26 September 1975 (Inc. Soc. No. 217833). It was registered as charity with the New Zealand Charities Commission on 17 December 2007 (Charity Ref. No. CC20268). http://www.charities.govt.nz/

History

It was founded in 1970 by Patricia Bartlett who was formerly a nun of the Roman Catholic Order of the Sisters of Mercy. In 1996, she retired from the organisation, and lived quietly in Upper Hutt until her death in November 2000. Membership of SPCS rose to a peak of 25,000 in the 1970s. Since then, membership numbers have declined to its present steady level of about 400.

Its current President is John Mills, businessman and Elder of the Kapiti Christian Fellowship, and the Executive Director is David Lane. David Lane is the most active figure in the Society researching current issues in NZ society with the information gathered being used for press releases and submissions.

Campaigning

Initially, the organisation campaigned against pornography in films, videos and magazines. However, Howley v Lawrence Publishing [1986] (Court of Appeal) initiated a string of anti-censorship court and regulatory decisions that came to rely on evidence-based social scientific proof for censorship policy decisions. This culminated in passage of the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993, and marginalised their campaign.

SPCS has issued media releases opposing civil unions, hate speech bans, the repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act, and the decriminalisation of sex work. The SPCS has repeatedly criticised Bill Hastings, while he was New Zealand's Chief Censor, the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), and the Film and Literature Board of Review for what it believes to be their liberal application of censorship law. Some years ago SPCS submitted a number of film festival items to the Film and Literature Board of Review for reclassification, including, most notably, the French rape film "Baise-Moi". It contended the film should be banned, as it was by Australian censors. Irreversible, Visitor Q, Bully, Kill Bill, The Piano Teacher and Y Tu Mama Tambien at the Beck's Incredible Film Festival and the New Zealand International Film Festivals. It succeeded only with respect to Baise-Moi, although after several appeals this film subsequently went on to general commercial release. The SPCS has also sought permanent bans of the films Kill Bill, Baise-Moi, Irreversible, Visitor Q, Bully, Ken Park, Anatomie de l'enfer, Twentynine Palms, Y Tu Mama Tambien, 9 Songs and The Piano Teacher, again on the basis of what the SPCS believes is their objectionable sexual and violent content. It has not succeeded in obtaining permanent bans of any of these films. In 2005, the SPCS unsuccessfully sought an R18 classification of the computer game Playboy: The Mansion.

The SPCS campaigned to have the rating of The Passion of the Christ reduced to permit its exhibition to children provided they were accompanied by a parent despite criticisms of the film's graphic violence. This stance was criticised as being weak or even hypocritical. As a result of a review brought by Hoyts, the distributor of The Passion of the Christ, the film's classification was reduced from R16 to R15, which meant that most fifth-form (15 year old) students could view it.

Since 1995, the SPCS has taken 16 appeals to the Film and Literature Board of Review and succeeded in three of them. In 1995 the SPCS succeeded in having one porn video banned and in 1996 it had scenes cut from another on appeal. Since then every appeal that the SPCS has sought has resulted in the same or a lower classification. Interestingly Bill Hastings, whom the SPCS campaigns to remove from Office, was a member of the Board that allowed the two successful appeals.

In 2006 the SPCS began to criticise the financial management of the OFLC. It complained to the Auditor General that the OFLC was inefficient and mis-managed taxpayer funds. The Auditor General dismissed the SPCS' complaint, stating that "no evidence of waste was found during the course of the audit" of the OFLC.

SPCS is also strongly opposed to promotion of special rights for lesbians and gays. In 2000, the Court of Appeal of New Zealand ruled that the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 could not be interpreted to ban two American anti-gay videos produced by Jeremiah Films. The SPCS was not the originator of the appeal over the videos but was a strong supporter of the Court's decision.

In 2011 it submitted the gay-horror film LA Zombie to the Film and Literature Board of Review for reclassification for reclassification. The President of the Board, Dr Don Mathieson, in a split decision, agreed with the SPCS that it should be reclassified "objectionable" due to its major focus on graphic, gratuitous and offensive dipections of necrophilia - and other "sexual or physical conduct of a degrading or demeaning nature". However, the remaining four Board members approved of the film's R18 classification, so it was screened at Out Takes/Real Queer Film Festival run by Real Queer Inc..

See also

• Office of Film and Literature Classification (New Zealand)#Criticism
• Censorship in New Zealand

Bibliography

• New Zealand Administrative Reports (NZAR). The NZAR contain tribunal and court decisions related to New Zealand censorship law (1984- ).

• Paul Christoffel: Censored: A short history of censorship in New Zealand:Department of Internal Affairs: Wellington: 1989: ISBN 0-477-05633-4

• Carolyn Moynihan: A Stand for Decency: Patricia Bartlett and the Society for Promotion of Community Standards: SPCS: Upper Hutt: 1995: ISBN 0-473-03340-2 (This is a biographical work related to the life of the late SPCS Secretary Patricia Bartlett, including much detail about relevant censorship policy and law from her organisation's perspective.)

External links

• Society for the Promotion of Community Standards
• http://www.censorship.govt.nz Office of Film and Literature Classification (NZ), the government censorship agency.
• http://www.charities.govt.nz The Charities Commission of NZ, the government charity registration agency.