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http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23979198-5001021,00.html

Nude child art photography
July 07, 2008 12:00am

LAWS governing the "artistic" photography of naked children will be reviewed by the State Government after an art magazine published sexualised pictures of a naked six-year-old girl.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday he would pull funding for the taxpayer-funded Art Monthly if it did not comply with new protocols over the depiction of children.

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"I have very deep, strong, personal views on this, which is that we should be on about maximising the protection of children," Mr Rudd said. "I don't think this is a step in the right direction at all. Frankly, I can't stand this stuff."

Premier Morris Iemma described the images as "disgusting".

The photographs were taken by Melbourne-based artist Polixeni Papapetrou of her daughter Olympia, who was six-years-old at the time.

Two black and white photographs inside the magazine show the girl lying naked on her back in a provocative pose and gazing into the camera with her hands on her hips while wearing her grandmother's jewellery.

The cover of the magazine features the young girl sitting naked on a rock.

Such photographs are against NSW child employment laws, but because of a clause in the Crimes Act, which grants exemption for "artistic merit", they are not technically illegal.

The Australian Federal Police is set to investigate the magazine after Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson said he would lodge an official complaint and the State Government said it would refer the publication to the Classification Board. The magazine was freely available for purchase in a Sydney book store and newsagency yesterday.

The photographs have outraged child protection advocates and the broader community. Premier Morris Iemma said he and the Government would review the laws.

"These disgusting images should in no way be considered art," he said.

Mr Rudd has ordered the Australia Council, which funds the magazine, to develop new protocols about using images of children and said any recipient not abiding by them would have its funding stripped.

The magazine has a circulation of 5000, with 2000 subscribers and 15,000 readers, its website said.