Cate Blanchett beats PM over child porn

Cate Blanchett, the Oscar-winning actress, has done her bit for freedom of expression. The First Post reported in May how she had become embroiled in a dispute over a proposed photographic exhibition in Sydney that, according to the police, showed pornographic images of naked, pre-pubescent children. Artist Bill Henson's photographs had been due to be shown in an art gallery, but were confiscated after complaints from a child protection campaigner, igniting a fierce debate in Australia about artistic freedom and censorship.

Blanchett, a mother of three, was one of a prominent group - among them South African-born author JM Coetzee, now an Australian citizen - who showed solidarity with Henson by signing an open letter expressing "dismay at the police raid on Bill Henson's recent Sydney exhibition, the allegation that he is a child pornographer and the subsequent reports that he and others may be charged with obscenity". They were particularly incensed that Kevin Rudd, the country’s Prime Minister, had waded in, branding the work "absolutely revolting".

Now the matter has been resolved in Henson’s favour. The New South Wales police force has decided not to prosecute the gallery or Henson for the exhibition. Says a source: "Cate and Coetzee – that’s quite a team, even when pitted against the Prime Minister."