Calendar ‘not A Book’ (Press, 12 August 1982)
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Summary: Calendar ‘not A Book’ (Press, 12 August 1982)
On 12 August 1982, the Indecent Publications Tribunal in Wellington announced that it does not have the authority to rule on a calendar featuring nude males, as it does not fall under the legal definition of a book. The case arose after the calendar, titled "Spunky 1981 Calendar" and published by White Cloud Publishing in Auckland, was referred to the tribunal by the police. This referral followed complaints by Miss Patricia Bartlett, the national secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards. She argued that the combination of textual content, photographs, and an astrological theme warranted a classification as a book. However, the tribunal declined to take jurisdiction, stating that its mandate is restricted to assessing books and sound recordings. They stated that it would be misleading to classify such a calendar as a book, asserting that doing so would require a degree of artificiality in the interpretation. This ruling highlighted the limitations of the tribunal’s authority and the challenges surrounding the classification of various forms of media within existing legal frameworks. The decision has raised discussions about the boundaries of indecency regulations and definitions of publications in New Zealand.
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