[JURIST] Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock [official website] Wednesday called on Australian states to ban books inciting terrorism in the wake of a recent Australian Classification Review Board (CRB) [official website] decision to ban two Islamic books that allegedly incited terror while allowing five others to circulate. An incitement ban would require changing the current legal test for prohibition, which goes to intent rather than effect. In an interview [transcript] ahead of a ministers meeting Thursday Ruddock said:

What I am asking...the ministers to look at...is whether the test which now goes to whether or not the publication incites or promotes terrorist activity as a crime, ought to be changed to a test of advocacy, which wouldn't require us to go into people's minds when they produce their publications, or their film or their video. It would be a simpler test and easier test of dealing with terrorist acts and I'm encouraging the state classification ministers to deal with this issue.