Kathryn Mary Paterson (17 October 1962 – 20 September 1999) was the ninth Chief Censor of New Zealand and a Director of Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification.

Biography

Paterson was raised in the sea-side town of Umina, north of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the daughter of June, a teacher, and Phil Paterson, a pharmacist. Paterson obtained an honours degree in psychology from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

in 1991. Between 1984 and 1993, she was a senior researcher at the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal (a predecessor of the

Australian Communications and Media Authority The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Aus ...

), a member of the Australian Film Censorship Board and manager of the information unit of the

Office of Film and Literature Classification (Australia) The Australian Classification Board (ACB or CB) is an Australian government statutory body responsible for the classification and censorship of films, television programmes, video games and publications for exhibition, sale or hire in Australi ...

. Paterson became Chief Censor of New Zealand in 1994. She was

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's ninth Chief Censor, and the first appointed under the new

Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 The Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand. It repealed the Indecent Publications Act 1963, the Films Act 1983 and the Video Recordings Act 1987. In 2015, the book '' Into the River'' ...

. This Act gave the

Office of Film and Literature Classification The Office of Film and Literature Classification (), branded as the Classification Office (), is an independent Crown entity established under Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 responsible for censorship and classificatio ...

jurisdiction to classify a broader range of publications than was possessed by her predecessor as Chief Censor,

Jane Wrightson Jane Theresa Wrightson (born 2 January 1958) is a New Zealand public sector executive. Since 2020 she has served as Retirement Commissioner. She was previously New Zealand's Chief Censor from 1991 to 1993, the chief executive of the Broadcastin ...

, whose jurisdiction was limited to the classification of films for public exhibition. When she was appointed Chief Censor, the opposition women's affairs spokesperson

Elizabeth Tennet Elizabeth Patricia Tennet (born 1953) is a former New Zealand politician. Biography Early life Tennet was born in 1953 in Feilding. She was educated locally before studying at Massey and Victoria University. Before entering politics, she work ...

MP raised fears that Paterson would import Australian "

macho Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism (also cultural colonialism) comprises the culture, cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" describes practices in which a country engages culture (language, tradition, ritual, politics, economics) to creat ...

" into

. In December 1998, Paterson returned to

to become director of the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification, a position she held until her death from cancer ten months later on 20 September 1999. In New Zealand, Paterson was succeeded as Chief Censor by her deputy, Bill Hastings.

References

* McLennan, C. "Chief censor shrugs off 'macho' claims". Evening Post. 18 April 1994. * Obituary. Evening Post. 7 October 1999. *

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, Kathryn 1962 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Australian women public servants 20th-century Australian public servants Chief Censors of New Zealand Australian women psychologists 20th-century Australian psychologists