Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I will respond to a couple of the comments made. I do know that ACMA has a process underway right now but the great concern here is the growth in consumption of the kinds of foods and beverages which are being advertised. That is why we are raising this amendment. That growth has taken place at a time when we have codes of practice that say pressure should not be exerted on children through the advertising of food and beverages. The fact of the matter is that those codes are very weak and they are ignored daily. Quite frankly, the industry has not shown a responsible position on this issue, which is at least part of the reason we have the problem that we have. I hope that process comes up with a much more comprehensive code, but I somehow doubt it.

You have to ask yourselves why it is that advertisers want to advertise food and beverages in children’s television times. They are not doing it out of the generosity of their hearts; they are not doing it because they are amusing children with their various ads. I am sure they are amusing. Why are they doing it? Because it works, because children do put pressure on their parents in order to buy whatever it is, whether it is soft drinks, McDonald’s or something else. They work, and not because the parents see the ads; they work because children are convinced that is what they ought to have. Children are not discriminating. Children are not able to say, ‘This is just an ad.’ Children do not understand that; children look at television and think that what is being said to them on television is the truth. They understand that they should be doing what they are being shown. That is the whole reason we have restrictions on children’s advertising. I wish that process well, Minister, but my guess is that it is not going to deliver much more by way of dissuading advertisers of food which is not healthy for children from advertising it on television. That is the fact of the matter.

Sadly, codes of practice in the advertising industry are broken the whole time. The authority has a wet rag to wave at advertisers by way of stopping them doing this and penalising them for it. It is a code of practice and it is time, frankly, that our laws reflected a much stronger position. As I say, I would not be moving this amendment were it not for the fact we have a growing problem. We have had that code of practice for a long time and it has not worked. We have a growing problem and we need to do whatever we can to turn it around. That is the purpose of this amendment.

Question negatived.

Bills agreed to.

Bills reported without amendment; report adopted.