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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
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CLASSIFICATION (PUBLICATIONS, FILMS AND COMPUTER GAMES) (PARENTAL GUIDANCE) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 30 September 2010.)

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood) (10:38): I rise today to speak to the amendments to the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 which were introduced by a bill in the other place by the Hon. Michelle Lensink. The Hon. Michelle Lensink has a real and very genuine interest in the protection of vulnerable and highly impressionable young teen and tween girls.

I would also like to commend our lead speaker in this house, the member for Adelaide, who has a good knowledge of that age group through her business which caters to that age group. I commend her for the points that she has made in this house. I, myself, have a tween daughter. Tweens are between nine and 13 and teens are 13 onwards. So I have been informed that I have a tween daughter, and I must say that it is a very good bill and something that we should be considering to protect this age group.

It is very difficult, as a parent, to be able to look at every single piece of reading material, every single DVD and every single piece of music that this age group listens to, and vet it for its appropriateness. So it is a real opportunity for us in South Australia to be a pathfinder and have this legislation introduced in parliament here, and to be the first in Australia to introduce this to protect this vulnerable and impressionable age group.

As I said, it is difficult as a parent, to be able to look at every piece of literature that children read, so having a classification makes that a lot easier for a parent, just as we have with DVDs, where we can see the classification they are choosing. Is it a PG rating? Is it an M or an MA15+ rating? The parent can easily see, without sitting through the whole movie prior to the child watching it, what sort of content that there is going to be. This is essentially the same format for the classification of magazines. There is a lot of concern in the public about the increasing access that children have to material which may be inappropriate, so this classification system makes it a lot easier for parents to ensure that their children are always looking at information or literature which is appropriate.

I was disappointed with the government's reaction to the bill in the other place. I understand that the guts of their objection is that they think there should be a national classification system. I do note that the federal government has considered this in the past and, in fact, in 2008 the Senate standing committee on environment, communication and the arts held an inquiry into the sexualisation of children in contemporary media. The committee's findings outlined a number of recommendations to the Rudd Labor government at the time in relation to the inappropriate sexualisation of our children through electronic and print media.

The committee recommended that publishers consider providing parental reading advice based on the Office of Film and Literature Classification systems of classification and consumer advice on magazine covers indicating the presence of material that may be inappropriate to children of certain ages. I think this is good advice. Unfortunately the federal government has not done anything in response to this at this stage.

I do not think it is appropriate for our government here in South Australia to simply pass the buck. I think this gives us a perfect opportunity in South Australia to lead the way. South Australia has historically been a parliament with a reformist agenda and with a history of being at the forefront. We have done this in so many areas in the past, and I do not see why we cannot do this with this important bill. For that reason, I will certainly be supporting this bill, and I would hope that the government would reconsider its position in this house. I think it is a most worthy case not to delay. I cannot think of any more worthy causes than protecting our next generation here in South Australia, and I call upon the government to support this bill.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (10:43): I, too, rise to speak on the classification amendment bill. I commend the Hon. Michelle Lensink in another place and the member for Adelaide in addressing this very important issue. I, too, have daughters—Charlotte, who is 13, and Eliza, who is eight—and they are classified as 'tweens', as I have just learned from the member for Norwood. I also have nieces who are 15 and 17, who are obviously classified as teenagers.

I am stepping into the realms of fatherhood learning that my daughters are able to walk into shops and newsagencies and purchase freely some of these magazines. It really horrifies me to think that my eight-year-old daughter can actually pick up a book off the stand that has expletives about young 'tweenage' behaviour. I have the magazine here in front of me: it is accessible to my daughters, and it is talking about oral sex and contraception, and it is available to an eight year old and a 13 year old. I think it is absolutely outrageous that young, up-and-coming girls, vulnerable young girls, are able to access this kind of information. I really do think that the classification guides show children and parents and, even to a further extent, their peers, just what visual content is within the covers or beyond the door of a movie or in an advertisement.

In today's world our young are experiencing the hard sell from both big and small business, and it really does beggar belief that our young, vulnerable children are able to access information. Essentially, they are almost under pressure to accept what they are seeing between covers, at the movies, on DVDs and the like. It really does put pressure on them to conform to that standard of today's hard sell. The thing that I guess really gets under my skin is that in today's world we hear and see things that are becoming more and more acceptable to the general public, but when I was that age it was totally unacceptable—absolutely unacceptable.

It really is about an educated choice. To have this classification bill supported is a vital step in the right direction. I really do think that this state government has led the way with a lot of reform, for instance, the deposit scheme, the recycling initiatives. That was reform that happened, and it is a credit to South Australia that we have led the way. Again, I think this is another example of just how this bill needs to be supported by both sides of the house.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

Mr WHETSTONE: Without listening too much to the member for Croydon, I commend the bill and look for support from the house.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (10:48): I believe this bill does have merit, but I can see why the government would want a national approach. If you take the area of Mount Gambier, represented by my colleague here, where a lot of their material comes in across the border, it would make it more difficult for publishers to be dealing with different jurisdictions and different approaches. I think there is a sound logic in the government saying that it should be a national scheme, and I support that.

In terms of the sexualisation of children, I think you can say it applies to girls and boys, although the approach is different, obviously. I have two granddaughters, one four and one six, and they are already into make-up and all this stuff that I have stopped using myself. What I find with a lot of people pushing for censorship or guidelines—and I think there is a special case for children—is that there is more emphasis on the threat, the dangers, as perceived in relation to sexual behaviour rather than violence.

In my view, the portrayal of violence is more damaging—and the research shows that—than, for example, having a magazine where people are running around without their clothes on.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: Isobel is very keen on violent video games.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: Well, I'm not keen on violence anywhere. If members look at the research, as I said, they will see that there is clear evidence that continual exposure to violence and violent activities will affect some people in the community; it will, in effect, rub off on them. In terms of the sexualisation of young girls, it is a quandary because we need to protect children. At a later stage in their life, we see women who are continually tortured by how they look. I have yet to come across any woman who is happy with how she looks or her body shape. So, we have a bigger issue than simply the sexualisation of young girls. What we have is a torture campaign against women that afflicts them throughout their whole life so that they always question themselves and ask, 'Am I too big? Have I got the right shape?' I think the bigger issue is the portrayal of women generally by not just magazines, of course, but other avenues as well.

I am sympathetic to the thrust of this bill, but on balance I believe the government is adopting the correct approach in advocating a national scheme. I do not know what the relevant minister or the person speaking on behalf of the government will have to say, but we could have a national scheme. It is really about guidelines.

Anyone is naive if they think that they will always control what their daughter or son looks at. It is not going to happen. Kids go to other people's places and see material that you may not want them to see. The best approach is, as far as possible, to make children aware of and alert to what these magazines and other media are trying to do so that they can at least protect themselves and others from the worst aspects of the sexualisation.

In essence, I commend the people who have raised this, as I think it is an important issue, and I will be interested to hear whether the government is going to pursue at the national level some better form of guidance for parents and young people themselves in terms of what may be in the material they wish to buy and read.

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (10:52): I rise today as the final speaker on this very important bill. The concept for this bill came from the YWCA, which believes that there is an urgent need to create a classification format for magazines marketed to tweens (who are defined as children aged between 10 and 13) and, in particular, girls' magazines are of interest. The concern within the community on the issue of sexualisation of our children is gaining momentum.

There are now a number of websites and interest groups, such as 'Kids Free 2B Kids', calling for action from government to protect this vulnerable age group. I am disappointed that the only member who spoke on behalf of the government in relation to this bill was the member for Reynell, who indicated that the government will not be supporting this legislation that has been passed in another place.

Despite the government's position, I was pleased to see that the member did recognise and commend the efforts of the YWCA to address the issue of the sexualisation of children, stating that it is time we made a stand on this issue. I find it puzzling that the government, on one hand, recognises the issue that this bill tries to address but does not believe that this house is the place to rectify the issue through the passing of legislation to amend the Classifications (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995. This argument appears to me to be nonsensical. Why have a Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 if we refuse to use the act as a basis to legislate on such publications, films and computer games?

This legislation is unique in South Australia and allows us the ability to easily take steps to protect children by ensuring that some publications that have sexualised content display a rating system so that parents and children are able to quickly identify this issue. The former attorney-general had no issue with the South Australian government having a unique stance compared with the rest of the state governments in our nation in relation to the classification of the R18+ video games. I therefore argue that if this place where laws are made is not the right place, where is? Is this government content to wait for the federal government to pass necessary legislation on this issue?

In 2008, the federal Senate standing committees on environment, communications, information technology and the arts held an inquiry into the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media. The committees' findings outlined a number of recommendations to the then Rudd Labor government in relation to the inappropriate sexualisation of our children through our electronic and print media. So far, the former Rudd government and now the Gillard/Green alliance have failed to appropriately act on such findings. That was three years ago. How long should the community wait for the federal government when we as a state government can lead the way?

In South Australia we have shown great initiative in other areas of social and environmental reform. We were the first state to allow women the right to vote. We were the first state to introduce recycling deposit refunds on cans and bottles, and we were the first state—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms SANDERSON: —to ban plastic bags, to name just a few parliamentary firsts. Did we worry about the cans crossing the border to Mount Gambier when we put that through? Did we worry about plastic bags used by shoppers in Victoria that might come across the border when we put that through? I believe that this parliament can and should take the initiative and be the first in Australia to provide this protection and information to parents and children.

We know there is strong evidence to suggest that continual projection and exposure to children of highly-sexualised images has a detrimental effect on children's psychology and physical wellbeing. Magazines such as Girlfriend regularly include sealed sections which contain highly-sexualised content in the guise of providing information to the readers.

Such sealed sections often include question and answer formats on issues of a sexual nature. While this may be considered appropriate information for girls over 16, reader surveys indicate that approximately 20 per cent of readers are girls aged 11 or 12 years old. Such magazines are not required to meet any classification requirements and, as a rule, are not observed by the Classification Board until a complaint is made.

South Australia is in a unique position to make decisions in relation to publications, films and computer games. Again, I emphasise that this is not about banning such publications. It is simply about government supporting and assisting parents and caregivers to make informed decisions. Again, I call on this government to support (in a bipartisan approach) and acknowledge that governments, whether state or federal, have a moral responsibility to assist parents and children to make an informed decision about the content of print media in the same manner as they are informed regarding films and video games.

The house divided on the second reading:

AYES (14)
Chapman, V.A. Evans, I.F. Gardner, J.A.W.
Goldsworthy, M.R. Hamilton-Smith, M.L.J. Marshall, S.S.
McFetridge, D. Pederick, A.S. Pegler, D.W.
Pengilly, M. Sanderson, R. (teller) Venning, I.H.
Whetstone, T.J. Williams, M.R.
NOES (22)
Atkinson, M.J. Bedford, F.E. Bignell, L.W.
Brock, G.G. Conlon, P.F. Foley, K.O.
Fox, C.C. Geraghty, R.K. Hill, J.D.
Kenyon, T.R. Key, S.W. O'Brien, M.F.
Odenwalder, L.K. Piccolo, T. Rau, J.R.
Sibbons, A.L. (teller) Snelling, J.J. Such, R.B.
Thompson, M.G. Vlahos, L.A. Weatherill, J.W.
Wright, M.J.
PAIRS (10)
Redmond, I.M. Rann, M.D.
Treloar, P.A. Koutsantonis, A.
Griffiths, S.P. Rankine, J.M.
van Holst Pellekaan, D.C. Caica, P.
Pisoni, D.G. Portolesi, G.


Majority of 8 for the noes.

Second reading thus negatived.

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