Photo by discarted

The Australia Council (the arts arm of the Australian government) is considering new rules that would require photographers to get the permission of parents when shooting any children under the age of 15. The World Today reports that, while new rules would help protect children in predatory or inappropriate situations, it would ultimately stifle street and documentary photographers.

Sandy Edwards, a photographer in Sydney, says:

Think of photographers such Max Dupain who has been photographing in the public domain. … It is just unreasonable to expect that once the photographer gets back to the dark room, processes the work or gets back to the computer, that that image can actually be OK’d by somebody who is a stranger in the photograph.

And Ken Duncan of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers talked about too much regulation in general:

At three levels – you’ve got federal restrictions, you’ve got state restrictions and you’ve got local restrictions. I mean if you actually pull out a camera and try to put it on a tripod to take photographs of Sydney Harbour for example or the Sydney Opera House, they come along and confiscate your gear or say that you need to have a permit that you pay $550 or something a day. You know, it is just stupidity.

To hear the full report, go here.