Question Time

Child Protection

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:09): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Business Services and Consumers a question on retail outlets.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: The Sunday Mail reported on 16 November that adult novelty items for sale are being displayed on shelves next to children's toys at bargain retail chains. Last week, at least three Spend a Penny stores sold graphic items representing male genitalia, which also included some sex toys. Some of these adult goods were stocked on the same stand as glow sticks and toy tiaras for young girls. Child protection expert Professor Freda Briggs confirmed that 'displaying these goods is just extending the way children are exposed to commercialised sex and it gives them the wrong idea about relationships'. My questions are:

1. Does the minister agree with the views of Professor Briggs on this important matter?

2. What action has the minister taken to ensure that the Office of Consumer and Business Services comes up with a plan to prevent and monitor such retail stores from displaying adult items next to children's toys?

3. Child protection issues are front and centre of our concerns. Will the minister outline whether she will impose stronger policy and better guidelines within retail outlets to protect children from early exposure to sexualisation?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. Indeed, it is a serious issue, albeit an incredibly complex one. I also was alarmed to read of the particular novelty items that were on display at a particular retail outlet.

The issue is that at present there is a lack of clarity because it is incredibly difficult to define what is offensive and what is sexually appropriate and inappropriate. For instance, I recently went clothes shopping for a 10 year old for her birthday, and I have to say that I was pretty appalled to see some of the clothing that was being displayed and available to buy not just for 10 year olds but particularly for young girls. It was appalling to see incredibly inappropriate clothing that was very much sexualising girlhood, if you like.

What do you do with this sort of issue? Do you say that that clothing is inappropriate and is sexualising child behaviour and do you ban certain clothing? The list goes on and on. It is a very difficult area because you are trying to define what is offensive and what is sexually appropriate. We certainly understand that many of these products are distasteful to many customers. Really, what we have relied on pretty much in the past is to encourage consumers to complain directly to retailers about offending items that might be on display.

We have seen many good examples in the past of retailers being incredibly sensitive and sympathetic to consumers' complaints. We find that, more often than not, retailers are prepared to remove those items or to make them less overt, so that people have to ask for the items rather than their being on open public display. Obviously, businesses selling items of an adult nature should be sensible about the placement and positioning of those items in public spaces, so that children are not blatantly exposed to them.

In relation to offensive products, I draw the attention of members to the fact that items such as clothing, mugs, ornaments and novelty products are not covered by the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995, so they cannot be classified either by the Australian Government Classification office or the South Australian Classification Council at present. If people are concerned about merchandise that they consider to be inappropriate, they should speak or write to the retailer directly.

Alternatively, if items are of an indecent or offensive nature, the retailer may be committing the offence of selling indecent or offensive material or exhibiting in a public place, contrary to section 33 of the Summary Offences Act. If that is the case, it should be reported to the police. It is unlikely that those particular items that the Hon. Jing Lee raises today would be captured by the Summary Offences Act, but if anyone is of the view that it would be, then I encourage them to report it to the police.

It is a sensitive issue, a serious one, and one on which I continue to keep a close eye, but it is incredibly difficult to regulate around notions of individual sensibilities, because they vary so much, and so many things could be captured that clearly we would not want as legislators to be captured under that sort of regulation.