We still have her, not getting rid of ol’ Liz for sometime I think. Australia are probably closer to becoming a republic than us Kiwis are.
Since when did we age classify books anyway? I’ve never seen any aside from pornographic mags. (E: Age restrictions, not books :D)
Anyway, the clue is in the complainant name - Family first NZ. As elsewhere, the word “Family” is euphemism for “The type of Christians that get their jollies from showing off their superior morality in public.”
Monarchist, Jacobite, and honest-to-Og believer in the Divine Right of Kings.
She’s still the Head of State, at least through her representative, and the current clusterfuck over the flag means that any attempt to cut ties with the monarchy is doomed to failure: you have to wonder if the whole thing isn’t a false flag - heh - operation by John Key to permanently discredit any sort of change.
When I said “head of state”, I meant someone who actually made laws. Sure, she could declare the book banned, but she really is just a figurehead. I misspoke. Oops.
Actually most liberal democracies have book and film banning procedures. The US is the exception because of your constitution.
At least we’ve got one thing right. 
I agree.
Clearly it’s time for the United States to quickly and decisively implement a constructive regime change in New Zealand.
I suggest we call it OPERATION KIWI FIRE-STALLION-EXPLOSION-BOOBS-VOLCANO. That should get those whiney peaceniks on board.
No, she really, really couldn’t. The Queen lacks all executive powers. She’s Head of State, not Prime Minister. If she tried to have a book banned, or a street named after her dog, for that matter, there’d be a constitutional crisis.
There seems to be this misapprehension among a lot of Americans that the Queen can rule by absolute fiat like a monarch in a Disney cartoon, and only doesn’t because she’s personally nice.
You said ‘head of government,’ which she is not. Right the first time.
Thanks for this clarification. Seriously. I was all confused.
Thailand banned it at the time too. Late 1980s. My father was still alive back then, and I got him to mail me a copy. There’s something about reading a banned book inside a country where it’s banned that is exciting.
Yes, obscenity does not have first amendment protection.
This is worthy of a nitpick, though. I’m not aware of any federal laws that ban items nationally even though state and local ones galore exist.
That doesn’t mean that bans haven’t been placed. The loophole that was once used made it illegal to use the mail to send obscene material. It’s also possible that transporting over a state line could be prosecuted. Bringing in prohibited material through customs was also illegal. But a straight-up national ban hasn’t happened.
If my memory is wrong, I’d be glad to be corrected.
Can you give me a list of the books that Australia has banned over the past 5-10 years? Given that I mostly work with Australians, I’d like to discuss this with them.
Update.
The novel’s classification has been reviewed and it has been released with no age restrictions at all, I can read it to my two month old baby if I wish.
It includes “gratuitously explicit” underage sex, and it’s legal to own?
I’m curious, but I wouldn’t be game to read it myself: Possesion of that kind of thing can get you into all kinds of trouble.
Can you give me a list of the books that Australia has banned over the past 5-10 years? Given that I mostly work with Australians, I’d like to discuss this with them.
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I don’t know what literary masterpieces are banned by either country — countries don’t really do that sort of thing anymore, not even those notorious in the old days like Vatican or America [ 'Banned in Boston !’ ], except perhaps by purely local librarians — And I wouldn’t publish ‘Mohammed — The Expose !’ in any of the Gulf States.
As was said I was talking about internet censorship for which the downunderers are known the world over. However with Tony Abbott spending more time with his family perhaps Labor and Liberals will zanily join together in making a bonfire of all controls and letting people do what they want.
On the other hand they’ve just decided to kill 2 million stray cats, so mental acuity doesn’t seem strong in Government House.