Publications Control Act 1989 (ACT)

The parties were a publisher and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government. The dispute was about whether the publisher had contravened the Publications Control Act 1989 (ACT) by publishing an unclassified computer game. The court was the Magistrates Court of the ACT. The legal issues were whether the computer game was an objectionable publication, and if so, whether the publisher was guilty of any offences under the Act. The court found that the computer game was an objectionable publication because it depicted violence in a manner likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult. The court also found that the publisher was guilty of offences under sections 5, 12A and 13 of the Act for advertising, selling and distributing the unclassified computer game. The publisher was fined $6,000.