Australia's child abuse material legislation : what's the artistic merit defence got to do with it?

The New South Wales (NSW) child abuse material legislation was subject to considerable scrutiny following the 2008 controversy over Bill Henson's photographs of nude children. The controversy prompted the NSW Government to remove the artistic merit defence, believing it was anomalous to retain the defence under laws concerned with child protection. This article argues that, in the midst of the debates about artistic freedom and child protection, there was a missed opportunity to reconsider the shortcomings of the current definition of child abuse material under Australian law. It addresses what should have been central in the debate, that is, the appropriateness of retaining the community standards test in defining child abuse material. This test requires asking what the "reasonable" person would find "offensive" in defining child abuse material, which can be contrasted with a harm-based definition that focuses on how the material was produced rather than its potential to offend viewers