Natasha Stott Despoja (SA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard and to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

PREGNANCY COUNSELLING (TRUTH IN ADVERTISING) BILL 2006

The Pregnancy Counselling (Truth in Advertising) Bill 2006 seeks to prohibit misleading and deceptive advertising and notification of pregnancy counselling services; promote transparency and full choice in the notification and advertising of pregnancy counselling services; improve public health; and minimise the difficulties associated with obtaining advice to deal with unplanned pregnancy.

I am proud to introduce this legislation to the Senate co-sponsored by Senators Judith Troeth, Carol Brown and Kerry Nettle and I thank them for their support.

It is an historic day for the Australian Parliament, with this bill representing the second time this year that cross-party women have joined together to introduce legislation to improve women’s reproductive health.

This bill closely mirrors the Private Member’s Bill I introduced in June last year to regulate pregnancy counselling, and ban misleading and deceptive advertising by pregnancy counselling services.

That bill, the Transparent Advertising and Notification of Pregnancy Counselling Services Bill 2005 was examined by a Senate committee earlier this year, and received cross-Party support throughout the inquiry process and when it reported back in August.

I would like to thank, in particular, Senators Moore, Webber, Adams and Nettle for their support of this issue – and my bill – during the Senate inquiry, and also Senators Allison and Carol Brown for their support of the issue and for signing on to our cross-party report in favour of the bill.

This bill is necessary because, although the Trade Practices Act outlaws “conduct that is liable to mislead the public as to the nature, the characteristics, the suitability for their purpose or the quantity of any services”, most pregnancy counselling services are not subject to the Trade Practices Act because they usually do not charge for the information and other services they provide and are thus not considered to be engaging in trade or commerce.

Essentially, this bill makes pregnancy counselling services subject to the same laws regarding misleading advertising as organisations which are engaged in trade or commerce.

I have been campaigning for greater transparency in the advertising and notification of pregnancy counselling services for years now, since concerns about the way one pregnancy counselling service, Pregnancy Counselling Australia, was listed in the White Pages was first brought to my attention.

Those who contacted my office at the time were concerned that the way Pregnancy Counselling Australia was listed in the White Pages gave the impression it was an impartial or “non-directive” pregnancy counselling service, yet in fact it is run by a pro-life organisation, and does not refer for terminations.

I raised this issue in the Senate in August 2004, and subsequently wrote to Sensis - the company which publishes and distributes the White Pages - urging it to remove Pregnancy Counselling Australia from the emergency and community help pages of the White Pages, and replace it with a non-directive pregnancy counselling service. I also urged Sensis to engage in corrective advertising to advise the public of the true nature of the service Pregnancy Counselling Australia provides.

Sensis responded to my letter by writing that, following concerns raised in 2003, it had, in conjunction with Pregnancy Counselling Australia, already altered two previous listings: “Abortion Trauma” and “Crisis Pregnancy Counselling”, to read “Pregnancy Counselling Australia (Pregnancy termination alternatives and post-termination counselling)”.

Sensis went on to explain that Pregnancy Counselling Australia complies with its rules for listing in the 24 hour Service and Community Help sections of the White Pages, which include that the “content of the listing must not misrepresent the nature of the service provided”. In other words, Sensis believes the listing is as clear as it needs to be, and does not need to be altered - let alone be removed. However, the fact that Pregnancy Counselling Australia does not provide referrals for terminations – and is, in fact, fiercely anti-abortion, is not mentioned in the listing.

Sensis’ response, and my increasing awareness of a number of other pregnancy counselling services which like Pregnancy Counselling Australia, do not refer for terminations yet do not mention this in their advertising and notification material, encouraged me to continue to push for greater transparency in this area, to ensure women are able to make informed choices about who they contact for information when they are deciding whether they can continue with a pregnancy, are seeking support in continuing their pregnancy, or have decided to have an abortion.

Specifically, our Bill does the following:

Firstly, it prohibits pregnancy counselling services (whether the services provide the information in person or over the phone) from publishing, distributing, displaying or broadcasting, by internet, television, telephone, radio or like service, or by post, any material that is misleading or deceptive as to the nature of the services it provides, or any material that is likely to mislead or deceive as to the nature of the services it provides.

Secondly, the bill ensures services must be upfront about whether or not they refer for terminations.

It requires services which do not provide referrals for terminations of pregnancy to include in any advertising or notification material a statement that “This service does not provide referrals for terminations of pregnancy” or a like statement.

It also requires services which do provide referrals for terminations of pregnancy to include in any advertising or notification material a statement that “This service does provide referrals for all pregnancy options”.

Breaching either of these conditions would result in a penalty of up to 2,000 penalty units for an individual, and up to 10,000 penalty units for a body corporate.

This bill is not about shutting down, or cutting off funding to, anti-abortion services – to the contrary I recognise the right of all sorts of services to exist. It is simply about ensuring that services are transparent and accountable for the information they provide and the options they offer women.

In this bill, ‘non-directive pregnancy counselling service’ refers to a service that offers counselling, information services, referrals and support on all three pregnancy options (raising the child, adoption, and termination) and will provide referrals to terminations of pregnancy services where requested.

I would have liked this clause to be able to read that the directories must list a non-directive pregnancy counselling service in these pages (as I would have in the original bill), but unfortunately, due to a lack of Federal Government funding, there are currently no national 24 hour pro-choice pregnancy counselling services.

On the other hand, the Government allocates over $300,000 each year to the Australian Federation of Pregnancy Support Services (AFPSS) for pregnancy counselling services (the AFPSS is a self-described pro-life organisation, according to its constitution, and affiliated organisations do not refer for terminations).

The next clause of the bill would ensure that where a participating State receives financial assistance from the Commonwealth for making payments to pregnancy counselling services and the service is found to have engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, or has not met the notification requirement of the bill, financial assistance is not payable until the service has ceased to engage in the misleading or deceptive conduct or has met the notification requirements.

This bill also makes Commonwealth-funded pregnancy counselling services ineligible to receive a grant of financial assistance unless it first discloses whether it is a pregnancy counselling service which does not provide referrals for terminations of pregnancy, or a non-directive pregnancy counselling service which provides referrals for all pregnancy options.

Additional reporting requirements contained in the bill include that the Minister must report annually on the amount of each payment to each State and each service provider, the name of each service provider receiving the payment, and whether each service provider is a pregnancy counselling service which does not provide referrals for terminations of pregnancy, or a non-directive pregnancy counselling service which provides referrals for all pregnancy options.

I commend the bill to the Senate.

I table the explanatory memorandum and seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.