Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my electorate of Moreton we have one of the best golf courses in Queensland, the Brisbane Golf Club, in Tennyson. It has been about five years since I played golf, actually at the Brisbane Golf Club—

Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A life balance problem.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, a bit of a life balance problem. I was playing with a guy called Lee Crocker. Unfortunately, we were beaten by his brother, Dene Crocker. Playing golf there you come right down to Fairfield Road. Standing at that part of the golf course you can look on one side and see a billboard and on the other side you can see a rather nondescript building. I noticed this the other day when I drove down Fairfield Road. The billboard was completely offensive. Initially, because it was on the way to the dump, I thought it was something to do with making sure all the equipment was stowed away, but it was not—it was a very offensive billboard. If you look 100 metres down the road, right beside the golf course, you can see a brothel. You would not know it was a brothel because it has one street number on it and that is all.

I point this out—Mr Speaker, you are looking a bit bemused—because I want to talk about ownership of public space not only in my electorate but throughout Queensland and Australia. Here we have a brothel—obviously people would imagine what goes on there—which is very nondescript, non-offensive and would not upset anyone taking their kids to school. It is very busy, with nearly 80,000 car movements a day on that road. I have a five-year-old kid, so I am very aware of this. He is starting to spell out words and here is this very offensive billboard.

I want to put out there the idea that we need to reclaim our public spaces. We have lots of weeks here—we have Liver Week, Mental Health Week. I think we need to have a ‘Back to middle-class values week’ where we reclaim public spaces—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know there is an interjection opposite but the reality is that brothels do exist. At least we understand what they are doing. They are not as offensive to the eye, I would suggest, as some of these billboards. You see a similar thing when you go to a newspaper shop. Lots of young kids go to newspaper shops. Newspapers have competitions where they encourage kids to collect dinosaurs and those sorts of things. Obviously there are parts of newspaper shops where you do not want kids to go. Some publications are covered up but there are also quite confronting ads out the front of newspapers shops. I am not a prude. I have been accused of being lots of things in this parliament but being a prude is not one of them.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No. We’ve read your book.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

People say they have read my book. If you have read the book, you would know that it is nowhere near as confronting as some of these billboard advertisements. Also, if  you buy my book and read it you make a choice, whereas a five-year-old kid or a 10-year-old kid who is being driven to school does not make a choice about the billboard they see or the ads they see out the front of the newspaper shop. This matter was raised by Guy Barnett, a Liberal senator, when looking generally at what Australians need to see. It is something I have considered. I intend to talk to Senator Barnett.

I know this matter has been recommended to go to Senator Trish Crossin’s Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. It is certainly something I care passionately about. With modern electronic billboards what you see at 8.30 at night is not what you need to see at 8.30 in the morning when kids are going to school. With electronic billboards we can now have more confronting material after 8.30 at night, as we do with television. And there are entertainment precincts where the advertisements might be completely different from what we see at school. Obviously, billboard advertising is about selling material rather than looking after decency. It is more important that we make sure public decency is looked after. That is something the Gillard Labor government can play a role in. I look forward to consulting with Senator Crossin and with Senator Barnett to see how we might assist them in that process.