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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-14 Daily Xml
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Motor Vehicles (Offensive Advertising) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (10:38): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Motor Vehicles Act 1959. Read a first time.

Mr Pederick: They won't second it. We will second it for the process.

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Hammond, be quiet.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: We were saving the bill.

The SPEAKER: Deputy Premier, please.

Second Reading

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (10:39): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I rise today to introduce the Motor Vehicles (Offensive Advertising) Amendment Bill 2018 and to wholeheartedly commend the bill to the house. It is absolutely incumbent on each of us in this house as community leaders to speak up, to act and to do everything within our power, within our sphere of influence, to ensure that our South Australian community is free of violence, of sexism, of racism and of paedophilia. As community leaders, each of us has a deep and abiding responsibility to act against material that absolutely does not accord with community standards and that offends so many South Australians.

Many of us on both sides of this chamber have spoken over many years about our collective responsibility to rid our community of that which incites violence against women and of language which demeans and discriminates against women and against people of diverse cultural groups. Just last week, when we debated the bill about domestic violence in this place, I pleasingly heard many speeches about the need to call out and stamp out derogatory comments about women. I was heartened to hear of members' resolve in this regard, to hear of their understanding of the connection between language and violence and to hear of their genuine passion to do what they could to make a difference.

We have an opportunity before us today to do just that, to make a difference, to take a meaningful step forward as a parliament to rid ourselves of messages in our community that are so deeply offensive—slogans that are not funny, slogans that are not smart, slogans that go way, way beyond what is acceptable. In fact, to many, they are slogans that are deeply distressing and engender fear.

The slogans on the Wicked Campers' vans promote and traverse violence against women, sexism, racism and paedophilia, and they are utterly, utterly unacceptable. I am determined to do whatever I can to ensure this offensive material does not appear on our roads, or in our caravan parks or camping grounds. Violence, sexism, racism and paedophilia must always be fought against. I am not alone in having this determination and a deep passion about this. Campaigning against these slogans began when an 11-year-old girl, offended by a Wicked Campers' slogan that referred to girls as 'sluts', initiated a petition that attracted 126,000 signatures.

Many have persistently called out their slogans since that time—slogans that include, but sadly are not limited to, 'Drink till she's pretty!', 'A wife; an attachment you screw on the bed to get the housework done,' 'I can already imagine the gaffer tape on your mouth,' 'I've often wanted to drown my troubles but I can't get my wife to go swimming,' '70% of priests who've tried Camels prefer young boys,' and, 'Save a whale, harpoon a Jap'. These slogans and their accompanying imagery go way beyond what is acceptable; they are just plain offensive by anyone's standards. Their horrendous content must be driven off our roads.

Wicked Campers are a national company that provide rental vans targeted at backpackers and tourists. They are well known for their highly visible van paintings that are accompanied by these deliberately offensive slogans. Their slogans are causing immense offence and hurt across our community and indeed in neighbouring jurisdictions.

The support for such a change is widespread. At Plan International's International Day of the Girl breakfast in Adelaide just a few weeks ago, Melinda Tankard Reist, well-known founder of the organisation Collective Shout and writer and advocate for girls and women, raised this issue and encouraged our parliament to take action, as did event sponsor KPMG via partner Tim Sandow in his closing comments.

Just a few days ago, Cairns locals also joined the chorus of people calling out for the banning of these vans, when vans registered in South Australia were seen in their area—South Australian vans which include the slogans, 'Are you still a virgin if you take it up the—?' and, 'If you want to toughen up, grow a vagina, those things can really take a pounding.' Outrage about the company's slogans rightly continues to grow, as it has over many years. Many report that it is particularly difficult when you have a child in the car who proudly reads everything they can see and who reads out one of these offensive slogans. How do you explain something so awful and offensive to a young child? We should not have to, and by supporting this bill we can ensure that we do not have to and that no child nor parent has to make sense of what is senseless and degrading.

The bill makes amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 to expand the powers of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to take action against a registered vehicle owner when notified by the Advertising Standards Bureau that a complaint has been upheld in relation to the vehicle having offensive slogans and/or images advertised on it.

In the past four years, most complaints to the Advertising Standards Bureau for offensive advertising on vehicles have been against Wicked Campers, which have around 900 registered vehicles Australia-wide. During 2016, the Advertising Standards Bureau received 11 separate complaints, all upheld, regarding offensive vehicle advertising against this business. Of 13 complaints against them in 2015, three were withdrawn and 10 upheld, and, of 22 in 2014, three were withdrawn and 19 upheld.

The Queensland government introduced a bill into its parliament in November 2016 following complaints from members of the public about vehicles that displayed sexist, discriminatory or otherwise offensive advertising in breach of an advertising standards code. The bill passed the Queensland parliament on 14 February 2017. The Queensland Minister for Main Roads, Road Safety and Ports has urged state and territory transport ministers to adopt legislation corresponding to the Queensland bill, which provides for an enforcement mechanism for the chief executive of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, the equivalent of South Australia's registrar, to address vehicles displaying offensive material.

The Queensland bill provides for the cancellation of a vehicle's registration if it displays advertising material found to breach the code, prevents the refund in part or whole of the registration fee paid, prevents the transfer of a vehicle's registration where cancelled, prevents renewal of registration unless the offending advertisement is removed and purports to prevent judicial review of the decision to cancel a vehicle's registration. Our bill is based on this Queensland legislation.

The Tasmanian and ACT governments have now enacted legislation. Some local councils in New South Wales have taken action, with the Blue Mountains City Council telling Wicked Campers they were not allowed to enter two popular council-owned caravan parks at Blackheath and Katoomba. Staff were given the power to eject vehicles they deemed to have misogynistic, racial and degrading slogans and imagery. Byron Shire Council banned the vehicles in 2016.

By providing an enforcement mechanism against this activity through amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act 1959, we can discourage the display of offensive advertising material on business vehicles. This bill gives power to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to cancel registration or refuse to register or re-register vehicles that have had complaints made against them that have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Bureau.

The bill is of course 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. The bill means that our registrar will now have the power to do something about them. It means that we, as a state, send a message to Wicked Campers that they and their reprehensible messages are absolutely not welcome here.

It is imperative that all states legislate so that the loophole for Wicked Campers to simply register in other states is closed. It is nonsense to say that we need to discuss a national approach. The national approach is every state doing their bit to close down avenues for these utterly offensive vehicles to be registered anywhere. If we are actually serious about treating women, and indeed everyone, with respect and about creating a community free of violence and racism, we need to act immediately to get these vans off our roads. South Australian girls and women deserve better, as does our community at large.

In closing, I heartily thank Melinda Tankard Reist and all at Collective Shout for their leadership on this issue, for their relentless calling out of that which demeans and objectifies women and for their support. I also thank the legions of Australians who are signing petitions and standing up against this utterly offensive material, and I thank parliamentary counsel for their assistance in the drafting of this bill.

I commend the bill to the house and urge those opposite to stand with me and all of us on this side of the house in ridding our roads of these horrendous slogans to ensure that we live up to those values that we so often espouse in here about doing what we can to respect women and all people by speaking up and out and acting against language that encourages violence and objectifies women.

The bill, if those opposite do support the eradication of violence against women, sexism, racism and paedophilia, must be supported. It is a clear action we can take together as a parliament to make our community a better, safer and more respectful one.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Pederick.

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