House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2) 51 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Bills Government Advertising (Objectivity, Fairness and Accountability) Bill GOVERNMENT ADVERTISING (OBJECTIVITY, FAIRNESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY) BILL Second Reading Second Reading Adjourned debate on second reading. (Continued from 28 February 2008. Page 2258.) Mr KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly West Torrens Mr KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (11:27): I notice the member for Mitchell standing up, trying to guillotine debate, again. However, the government will have its say on this bill, and I will have my say. Mr Hanna interjecting: Mr KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly Mr KOUTSANTONIS: I am too quick. I understand that members opposite have been addicted to government advertising. I know that members opposite saw with glee how their current hero and former federal leader John Winston Howard used government advertising to great effect. He used government advertising to such great effect that he was able to compete with the likes of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, KFC, McDonalds and others. In fact, for the first time in our federation's history, the largest advertiser on Australian televisions was the federal government, pouring out Coalition advertising campaigns day after day trying to sell the people something they did not want called WorkChoices. These ads came in various ways. The federal government had paid actors talking about how great WorkChoices was. It had paid actors carrying tool boxes pretending to be plumbers and electricians talking about how they loved being worse off under WorkChoices and what a great system it was. We saw it with its advertising campaigns for all sorts of government initiatives, whether it be private health insurance, private schooling and government funding on issues simply to try to get a message across— Mr Pengilly interjecting: Mr KOUTSANTONIS House of Assembly Mr KOUTSANTONIS: I also inform the member opposite that displays in the house are out of order. However, having seen the evils of taxpayer-funded government advertising campaigns, this government acted swiftly. All our advertising is factual, verifiable and there to deliver information to the community. Debate adjourned.