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

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, I present the committee's report entitled Reclaiming Public Space: inquiry into the regulation of outdoor and billboard advertising, together with the minutes of proceedings and evidence received by the committee.

Mr Speaker, I remember that you were sitting in that chair when I first raised this issue in the parliament quite a while ago. I raised concerns about the fact that no-one can avoid outdoor advertising. That is what makes outdoor advertising appealing to advertisers—it cannot be turned off or put away if a consumer wishes to ignore it. People can often put passing images out of their mind, but not when they are on a billboard, on the back of the bus in front of them in traffic, on the bus stop that they use every day or inside the train that they take to work.

Having seen the dominance of outdoor advertising in my own electorate and being concerned about the images my own children were being exposed to—thank you, Stanley!—I was pleased to lead this inquiry investigating community concerns about the regulation and monitoring of outdoor advertising content. Other members of the committee had similar reservations about the impact of outdoor advertising on all members of society, be they children or adults, women or men, conservative or liberal, or of faith or no faith. The report is presented unanimously by the committee.

We found that there are many community concerns about the impact of increasing, cumulative and sustained exposure to advert­isements that contain sexual, discriminatory or violent material. Those responsible for children had particular concerns about children's exposure to outdoor advertise­ments for alcohol and overwhelmingly unhealthy foods and beverages. The committee considers that outdoor advertising constitutes a specific category of advertising because of the way that it occupies public spaces, dominates civic landscape and targets captive, unrestricted audiences. As such, the committee concluded that industry self-regulation of advertising standards must incorporate a specific code of practice for outdoor advertising. This code of practice should reflect the particular nature of outdoor advertising, recognising that all members of society are exposed to it and do not have a choice about viewing it.

Community sentiment strongly supported the committee's opinion that there is a need to reclaim public space from the interests of commercial advertising. The definition of community standards is a contentious issue given the wide range of views held by all members of society. Sometimes a single squeaky wheel gets all the grease. More research into community attitudes about outdoor advertising standards should be conducted to increase the public's confidence in decisions about advertising that purport to reflect community norms.

Furthermore, the self-regulatory system for advertising as a whole requires streng­thening. The committee recommends that the advertising self-regulatory system adopt international best practice measures, including the provision of a prevetting service or independent advice to advertisers on their advertising content prior to publication and a monitoring role for the Advertising Standards Bureau to promote high levels of compliance with the voluntary advertising codes. These measures should prevent inappropriate outdoor advertising from being displayed in the first instance. This will address some of the concerns about the high visibility of inappropriate outdoor advertising prior to being found to breach the advertising codes.

Monitoring of outdoor advertisements will also remove some of the onus on the public to submit complaints. There is no doubt that complaints will still be made, and the committee recognises the role of the ASB in making decisions on these complaints. However, as the current regulatory system is a complaint based one, it is vital that the complaint process is robust and as easy to access as possible.

This report contains many recomm­endations to advertising industry bodies. The committee expects the recommendations to be adopted and implemented by the relevant bodies, as the industry has demonstrated that it is keen to preserve the system of self-regulation. However, the committee recom­mends that if the industry does not demonstrate over the next few years that self-regulation can appropriately operate within the bounds of community expect­ations for appropriate outdoor advertising then the Australian government should institute regulatory measures—carrot first, stick later if required.

I particularly thank the committee's deputy chair, Judi Moylan, the member for Pearce, for her contribution, and I thank all the members who are in the chamber at the moment and who supported this process so much. Public spaces are for the use of all members of the community—men, women, children, young and old. The right to enjoy the amenity of a space should not be compromised by an advertiser's array of inappropriate images. We have listened to the Australian community during the course of our inquiry. On their behalf, our report says: enough is enough. It is time to reclaim our public spaces.

Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

From the outset I acknowledge the excellent work by the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, the member for Moreton, in the conduct of this inquiry and by my colleagues on this committee. In its submission to the inquiry into the regulation of billboard and outdoor advert­ising, the Australian Christian Lobby clearly summed up why this inquiry is important. As the member for Moreton has quite rightly said, this notion had widespread acceptance in the many submissions that were made to the committee on this topic. The Australian Christian Lobby stated:

By its very nature, outdoor advertising is a public broadcast medium, and because it is static, can be examined more closely by members of the public. It is not possible to filter those who see the advertising and there is no opportunity for members of the community to exercise choice not to see it.

I think this is the nub of the problem: because outdoor advertising is so public, often being near impossible to ignore, there is little opportunity for the public to avoid its messages and images, and therefore it is important for the government to consider its impact and indeed the regulatory system and framework around outdoor advertising.

The inquiry investigated whether advert­ising self-regulation is effective for outdoor advertising. The committee found that outdoor advertising is a specific category of advertising that requires its own specific code of practice. The separate code of practice is required because outdoor advert­ising occupies public space, can be viewed by an unrestricted, untargeted audience and has a cumulative impact on the community through the social messages it conveys. In addition to establishing a code of practice for outdoor advertising, the self-regulatory system in general requires strengthening. That is the real finding of the report. The committee was concerned that the comp­laints based process placed all the burden of monitoring inappropriate content on the public rather than more responsibility on the regulatory agencies.

The Australian Council on Children and the Media noted that billboards and outdoor advertising are one of the least regulated forms of advertising under our legal system. Children in particular can be affected by this form of advertising. The ubiquitous nature of it can make many inured to it, yet it is still playing a significant role in shaping views of young people. Food marketing in particular has been directly linked with children's food choices and their diets. As the majority of food marketing is for unhealthy food such as sugary breakfast cereals, confectionery, high-fat savoury snacks, soft drinks and fast food, the quality of children's diets can be impacted and ultimately affect their health and their weight. Obesity in Australian children has tripled in the past decade, and half of these children will remain obese throughout their adult life, during which they will be four times as likely to contract type 2 diabetes, for example. The Australian Assoc­iation of National Advertisers' Food and Beverage Code restricts the advertising of unhealthy food products to children. How­ever, outdoor advertising is visible to all, including children, and the advertising messages are absorbed through widespread and constant exposure. The committee was disappointed, for example, that sport sponsorship was not included in the code and recommended that it be recognised as a form of advertising and therefore be subject to advertising codes of practice related to food and children.

This report, Reclaiming public space: Inquiry into the regulation of outdoor and billboard advertising, provides an excellent framework for improving the regulation of outdoor advertising and I commend all of the recommendations to the House.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does the member for Moreton wish to move a motion in connection with the report to enable it to be debated on a later occasion?

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

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39 the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.