Parents exposing kids to porn should face criminal charges: Oz politician

Melbourne, September 14 (ANI): A senior member of the Liberal Party of Australia is drawing plans to protect kids from pornography, saying parents who expose their children to explicit material should face criminal charges.

Scott Morrison is pushing for changes to the law Down Under after a child protection case surfaced in his Sydney electorate, where a father views blue movies and web videos in front of his kid aged under five.

The mother, who lodged a complaint to police and the Department of Childrens Services, was told there is nothing in the law to prevent such conduct.

"We looked to see what remedies were available to help this mum protect her child, we found there were none - and the police confirmed as much to her," the Daily Telegraph quoted Morrison as saying in his column on The Punch.

"The problem was the father in this case was not seeking to expose the child to this material, or anything else he was doing, as a step towards physically or sexually abusing the child.

"He just didn't seem to care that bringing this stuff into the home and putting it in full view of his own child was a problem.

"While his actions may not constitute a sexual offence against a child under the strict definitions of the law, most of us would agree he is a complete idiot," he added.

Morrison further said: "I am all for parental responsibility and allowing parents to bring up their child according to the values they hold dear as a family. But this is not one of those 'not that there's anything wrong with that' scenarios . There is something wrong with this and our laws should say so." (ANI)