CarnalNation

An Australian man has admitted to having pornographic images of cartoon characters, including those from The Simpsons, The Powerpuff Girls and The Incredibles, and now must register as a sex offender.

In January 2008 police went to 28-year-old Kurt James Milner’s house after receiving a tip about disturbing material. Milner did not allow the police to search his computer at first, but later handed over the machine. Police forensic experts recovered 64 images of cartoon child exploitation material in the machine's recycle bin.

Milner told police he downloaded the images to show them to his friend "because he believed they were funny," according to the newspaper report. In 2003 Milner was convicted possessing child exploitation material of actual children.

Ars technicia reported that the Australian Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that sexually explicit illustrations of children qualify as child pornography. In 2008 another child pornography case also featuring characters from The Simpsons, an Australian judge ruled that though the cartoons may not be realistic depictions of children, they should still be considered people and therefore could be ruled as child pornography.

Though not considered pornography, cartoon mother Marge Simpson recently graced the cover of Playboy magazine.

In other words following this link to Google Images (NSFW) will make you a child pornographer as far as the Australian government is concerned.  This brings Australia into line with Florida, Alaska and US federal law, treating depictions in comics as reality.