Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My purpose in speaking tonight is to bring to the attention of the House inappropriate advertising in the media. On this occasion I will speak specifically on the problems of sexual advertising on the radio, and the problems that these advertisements bring to our society. I am unashamedly a regular church-going man, attending the Warwick Church of Christ, but tonight I speak only from the perspective I have as a father of young children. I worry about the safety of children and I worry about the sexualisation of children caused by exposure to inappropriate advertising.

The points I make tonight are about radio advertisements aired during the day. To begin, some months ago, whilst listening to a commercial radio station in Perth during the day, I heard one of those now all-too-familiar advertisements about nasal delivery systems to help male sexual problems. The advertisement was graphic and verging on explicit. As a result of hearing, over several months, from others who were also offended by the content, I commenced a petition, primarily addressing the issue of radio advertising. I have hundreds of names so far and will shortly bring the petition before the parliament.

As reprehensible as this advertising is, I will now inform the House of a horrendous breach of the Australian Association of National Advertisers code of ethics. On the last Thursday of the recent school holidays in Perth, at around 1.30 pm, I heard another one of these advertisements on a popular mainstream commercial radio station in Perth. I emphasise that it was school holidays and that it was when children would hear the content of the ad. As a result of that incident I went to see the general manager of the station to complain. I informed her that the AANA code, section 2.3, talks about treating sex with sensitivity—that was a fail—and with sensitivity to the relevant time zone—again a big fail.

Now, the general manager told me that they only air those advertisements after 9 am and before 3 pm, thereby making sure children do not hear them because those children are at school. Bad luck, of course, if mum is taking little Emily to the dentist or your four-year-old happens to be in the car with you. There is no protection for them. I call this outrageous. I call it morally wrong, as well, and say that if the advertisers do not heed their own standards, and if the radio stations do not address these matters themselves, then the Advertising Standards Bureau should take up the issue and ban these advertisements, lock, stock and barrel, during all normal hours.

I mentioned that the general manager of the radio station in Perth said that they only air those advertisements after 9 am and before 3 pm, thereby implying that they made an error in running it in that timeslot during the school holidays. Maybe you can accept that excuse—that it was just a simple error—yet what was the very next advertisement? It was an ad telling children how to get free entry to the Perth Royal Show. That is the reason I have no tolerance for this sort of advertising. They have really gone too far.

I know that I do not want to have to explain to my 10- and five-year-old children what that last advertisement was all about. I already have made my choice and have adopted the safe option in order to protect my children from these advertisements. I will only have a safe radio station playing in my car now, and I thank Barry Grosser and his team at Sonshine FM, the Christian radio station in Perth, for offering that safe alternative for parents. I also thank Barry for supporting me in this crusade.

I finally just want to clearly define what this is all about. This issue is about the terrible exposure of children to media that makes them aware of sexuality and adult issues before they are mature enough to comprehend what it is all about. It is a complicated world for children and young people, and our responsibility as parents, and in fact adults, is to ensure they are able to cope with the information that they receive every day. By ‘information’ I do not mean to legitimise inappropriate material in any way, but I struggle to convey my meaning without using that word. That information includes what is delivered by radio, television and, worst of all, the internet. An exposure to messages of sound or sight that promotes or furthers sexualisation of children is simply wrong. While the option exists for parents and children to turn off these forms of media, the fact remains that inadvertent exposure is just as bad and just as dangerous as a conscious decision to seek that information. Enough is enough. I look forward to the government’s response when I finalise the petition and submit it.