I was at the Pleasure Salon on Wednesday evening when I heard the rumour that Fitzroy based Australian pornography publisher Abby Winters was closing down. Not trusting that the gossip was accurate, I hunted around for more information, but a Google search found nothing.

I thought that if the Herald Scum knew this it would be taking the credit for it, but I could find nothing online. I wondered if their vendetta has come to a dead end since CEO Garion Hall was charged in December last year, but then someone on Twitter said that the Scum had an article in the dead tree edition about it last week.

Twitter was full of links to the official Abby Winters forum where a post by Hall states that the company is relocating to Amsterdam. So they’re not closing down as a business, but are closing in Australia and relocating in order to continue operating.

I have been critical of the company in light of my personal experience of having been treated unprofessionally while interviewing there for a marketing role, but the predominant view is that the company is fair to its models and operates within the law.

The big picture is altogether more depressing: here is a local business, apparently successful, making millions of dollars a year and paying tax in Australia, that is being driven from the country because of the moral hypocrisy of our political leaders.

Of course, selling unclassified DVDs in Australia was an obvious mistake that Abby Winters should never have made. But it was unlikely that the company knowingly employed an under-aged model. It’s just not profitable to get raided by the federal police and to be taken to court.

One of the Twitter comments I saw suggested that the child porn charge against Hall had been dropped, but I cannot find any confirmation of this from a more reliable source.

The real issue is the charge of making an objectionable film for gain, a charge that the company chose to plead guilty to (and pay a $6000 fine for) rather than contesting it to finally have the law critically examine this hopelessly vague definition.

Hall also makes reference to the forthcoming internet filter censorship program being advanced by the Rudd / Conroy christian dictatorship. The federal government is increasingly trying to criminalise diverse sexual behaviour and to enforce a vanilla hegemony.

Nothing that Abby Winters produces could come close to being considered objectionable by a reasonable audience. Its product is hardly at the hardcore or extreme end of porn.

This is a victory for the moral thought police and vocal minority that hate seeing other people enjoying themselves more than the thought police are.

It is a failure of freedom of speech and of the rights of consenting adults to practice their sexuality in their own way (including the models employed by the site).

Abby Winter’s departure from Australia is also a failure of common sense and business management. The state and federal governments have effectively outlawed a viable local industry and sent local jobs overseas along with the taxes paid on the profits.

I’m even more glad now that I withdrew from the application process and did not get the job at Abby Winters. Moving to Amsterdam could be exciting but it is not in my immediate plans.

Strangely, given my dissatisfaction with Hall’s disorganisation and management style, I actually feel sorry for him and for his employees. Being run out of town because you are sex-positive, and are being persecuted by sex-negative bigots, is an affront to the liberal values most of us hold dear.