Stop nude child photography

October 4, 2008, 6:30pm,  100 views

Photographer Bill Henson has been trawling schools to find children who will pose nude for him. Why isn’t he under arrest?

The Australian reports that four months after NSW police seized Henson’s work from a Sydney gallery, the photographer has said he finds models in several different ways.

Most often, he is introduced to them by a friend or relative, but sometimes he sees a child in public and gives a business card to their parents.

He said he was once invited to a Melbourne primary school by a principal and “had a look around at lunchtime” before the principal offered to contact the parents of two children he had seen. It was not the first time he had been invited into schools to search for models.

“If the report is accurate, I am disgusted by it,” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.

“I think parents would be revolted and horrified if this were true.”

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said he was outraged by the report.

“There are very big issues here relating to the protection of children, their privacy and informed consent,” he said.

“The matters that have been described in the media are totally inappropriate and unacceptable and I share the outrage that has been expressed by many people at these events,” he said.

“I’m astounded by the reports.”

We have bipartisan agreement Henson was wrong … also the principal who took him on a school tour to scour for nude child models.

What’s being done about it? Nothing.

The photographer should be considered a pornographer, instead of an artist.