Motor Vehicles (Offensive Advertising) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (10:57): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Motor Vehicles Act 1959. Read a first time.

Second Reading

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (10:58): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I rise today to introduce the Motor Vehicles (Offensive Advertising) Amendment Bill 2020 and to wholeheartedly commend this bill to the house again. In doing so, I note that this bill is identical to the bill I introduced on 14 November 2018. I also note that the reintroduction of the bill means that this government has, for 16 months since we introduced it, absolutely refused to take a step that would help end the terrible disrespect and violence towards women that our community confronts.

At a time when people here in our state and in communities across our country are crying out for an end to violence against women, and an end to the disrespect with which violence against women always starts, this government has played silly political games and refused to act. South Australians deserve better than this. They deserve to have our communities, every one of those communities connected in some way by roads, free from that which disrespects and promotes violence against women, including on their roads.

Apparently, this government either does not agree or puts not wanting to agree to a Labor bill that will help to rid our roads of this vile disrespect ahead of that which is most important, and that is to do every single thing we can as community leaders to prevent and end violence against women and to eradicate anything that excuses or promotes it.

I have previously spoken in this house about Wicked Campers. It is a national company that rents campervans to backpackers and other tourists and to local people. They are renowned—infamous, in fact—for their deliberately offensive slogans. Their slogans promote disrespect and violence towards women, sexism, racism and paedophilia. They demean and objectify women, engender fear, and they are deeply distressing.

We know that violence against women begins with disrespect. These vans are utterly focused on disrespecting women and they are utterly unacceptable. Campaigning against the slogans began when a courageous 11-year-old girl, offended by a Wicked Campers slogan that referred to girls as sluts, initiated a petition that attracted 126,000 signatures. This prompted Queensland, the ACT and Tasmania, as well as local councils, to ban them from their respective jurisdictions. Music festivals have also moved to ban them because festival organisers understand just how offensive they are.

We must question why this government cannot, will not, do the same by adopting Labor's bill. Instead, the South Australian Liberal government has dragged its heels, adjourning my previous bill close to 20 times in the last parliament after it was introduced back in November 2018. This is despite slogans continuing to adorn these awful vans with appalling words such as, 'I've often wanted to drown my troubles but I can't get my wife to go swimming,' or, 'A wife: an attachment you screw on the bed to get the housework done,' or the sinister, 'I can already imagine the gaffer tape on your mouth,' littering our roads, caravan parks and holiday destinations. The slogans and their accompanying imagery go way beyond what is acceptable.

The SPEAKER: Member for Reynell, I just want to caution the member about introducing unparliamentary language into the debate from other people.

Ms HILDYARD: So the language is not okay here but it's okay out there?

The SPEAKER: It's just a caution—

Ms HILDYARD: Are you kidding?

The SPEAKER: —and if you argue with me—

Ms HILDYARD: Are you actually kidding?

The SPEAKER: —I will remind the member that by arguing with me and refusing to accept the authority of the Chair, under 137A I can remove you for up to one hour for no reason. If it continues I can also name you, so I am just cautioning you. It was just a caution. I am not accusing you of anything. It was just a caution.

Mr PICTON: Point of order, Mr Speaker: how can the member describe these words without actually mentioning what they are?

Ms HILDYARD: It is what they say. I do not know what to—

The SPEAKER: Unparliamentary language cannot be introduced into debate by a quote. It is just a caution for the member. I just ask her to take my caution on board. Irrespective of who the member is or what they say, just take that on board.

Ms HILDYARD: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I hear you and I call on those opposite to ensure that language that is deemed unparliamentary and offensive in here they absolutely support being abolished out there in our community.

Mr Pederick: Have a good look at your side. Have a good look.

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond, you are not helping here.

Mr Pederick: Have a good look.

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is not assisting me right now. The member for Reynell has the call. She is entitled to the rights and privileges of this house and I would like to hear her.

Ms HILDYARD: Thank you, Mr Speaker. These slogans I have just spoken about and their accompanying imagery go way beyond what is acceptable. They are offensive by anyone's standards and the messages they send to our community, and particularly to our young people, are dangerous. It is absolutely shameful that this government have adjourned this bill on so many occasions. It is a straightforward bill that requires a supportive response that in a straightforward way will show that those opposite do not accept disrespect towards women. Surely with the litany of problems that have been exposed that this government has with women, they might just want to take a step forward.

The bill seeks to amend the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 by expanding the powers of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to take action against a registered vehicle owner. This is done when the registrar is notified by Ad Standards (formerly the Advertising Standards Bureau) that a complaint has been upheld in relation to the vehicle having offensive slogans and/or images advertised on it. This bill will mean that those offensive vans cannot be registered in South Australia or can be deregistered.

I am determined to do whatever I can to ensure this sort of offensive material does not appear on our roads or caravan parks and camping grounds. Tasmania, the ACT and Queensland have already given power to their Registrar of Motor Vehicles to not register them in those states. South Australian women and girls deserve better, as does our wider community. They deserve for our registrar to have these powers too.

This bill is something tangible and practical that we can do as a parliament, as community leaders, to call out sexism and the disrespect that promotes violence against women. As we near another International Women's Day, it is absolutely time that we take a step together to end disrespect and violence towards women. Several highly respected women's organisations and advocates are also calling on this government to support this bill, and I heartily thank them.

A collective shout-out to those who have been leading this campaign in an outstanding and sustained way: the YWCA, who have been working with me on every step of the journey, the Women's Legal Service, the Women's Working Centre, the Coalition of Women's Domestic Violence Services, Soroptomist International of Adelaide and many, many others for their efforts on this and for always unfailingly acting to end violence and disrespect against women. I thank them, and I thank the ACL for backing this campaign, this legislation. These groups and individuals see this as a way for this government to take a step towards preventing violence against women, as do so many in our community, and I urge them to so.

As community leaders it is incumbent upon all of us to speak out and, most importantly, to act against offensive material that absolutely does not accord with community standards and offends many, to do whatever we can, whatever is within our sphere of influence, to end violence against women. Other states and territories, as well as local councils, have moved to ban the offensive vans, so why can't we? Why has it been so hard for this government to act? Over and over again this government has been told that a successful national approach means that each state, each territory, has to do their part. Why is this not a priority for this government, particularly given its appalling lack of female representation and ongoing issues with the member for Waite?

The transport minister has in no way matched his rhetoric, his big talk at the meeting of transport ministers in Adelaide last August, with any action whatsoever. He said at the time:

We want to make sure that we close down these loopholes, stop the scourge of these offensive advertising and materials on the sides of these campervans…

That was early August 2019, and what has he done? He has done nothing. We have since had another summer of these vans at our caravan parks and beaches. In place of delivering anything in this space, the minister has spent 16 months thwarting Labor's measures that mirror exactly what other states have done. This is the exact kind of arrogant, disengaged, hands-off approach the Marshall Liberal government is renowned for. This is yet another example of an empty, broken promise from those opposite.

I hear many speeches by members of the government about preventing violence against women. Every parliamentarian in this house has rightly spoken at some stage about the need for us to step up and do what we can. And yet, when presented with a sound, sensible piece of legislation, one with broad community support and proven in other states, those opposite simply turn their collective back. They put petty game playing ahead of what matters. Why will those opposite not oblige the South Australian people and remove this garbage from our roads?

The bill is not about family cars or a sticker on a sedan or ute: it is about commercial vehicles that have had complaints against their slogans and imagery upheld. It means that our registrar will now have the power to do something about them. It means that we as South Australians send a message to Wicked Campers that they and their reprehensible messages are not welcome here.

Should we pass the bill, it means that together we send a message to our young people that disrespect towards women is not okay, that it is never an option, that we together will not stand for anything that promotes violence against women and that we will do what it takes to end it. I urge those opposite to act and to support the bill.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Pederick.