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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-15 Daily Xml
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SA HEALTH ALCOHOL AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:33): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the SA Health alcohol campaign.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: SA Health is running a 'Drink too much, you're asking for trouble' campaign. The campaign uses television advertisements and posters to graphically depict the negative impacts of drinking too much alcohol in terms of health, safety, legal and social harms. One advertisement and poster set, entitled Friends, depicts a scene where an intoxicated woman is sitting crouched over a toilet bowl. Under the image of the woman is the slogan, 'Drink too much, you're asking for trouble.' The trouble referred to is not specified. In the TV advertisement it could be implied that the trouble is workplace bullying but in the poster there is no such context.

I remind the minister of the government's commitment to make clear that women who are the victims of sexual assault are not responsible for the crime committed against them. They are not asking for trouble. Further, the government is moving to legislate against humiliating and degrading images. As a matter of principle, whatever the form of abuse—workplace, sexual violence or other—it is important that we do not excuse perpetrators by saying that victims were asking for trouble. When one hit can kill, nobody was asking for it.

The Health website says the 100 males aged 18 to 29 and the 100 females aged 18 to 29 participated in focus groups that helped shape the campaign. Focus group participants fed back that the campaign needed to 'tell it how it is'. My concern is that telling it how it is with alcohol abuse does not undermine the way we want things to be in terms of other forms of abuse.

I ask the minister: will the minister take steps to ensure that this advertisement is reviewed, including with focus groups, to ensure that it does not undermine other public health and safety messages, particularly violence against women?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (14:36): I would be very happy to do that. I have actually not seen the advertisement—no; you do not need to give it to me now. I will see it. We don't need dramas in the chamber that are in breach of standing orders.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: They are in breach of standing orders.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Well, if he wants to seek leave to table it, he can. The point is that I have said that I would be most willing to review those. I have not seen them, and I would be happy to have a look at them. From what the member describes, a woman—anybody, for that matter—vomiting into a toilet bowl with a sign that says, 'Don't drink too much, you are asking for trouble' suggests to me that if you drink too much you are asking to be sick. That is what that sign says to me.

If the wording in that particular poster, or any other communication, is suggesting something broader than that—certainly a woman vomiting into a toilet bowl does not suggest sexual violence to me—as I said, I am happy to have a look at that series of posters and other messages, because I certainly and absolutely do not support sending confused messages to members of the public; and victims of any form of violence should not be portrayed as perpetrators in some way. So, as I said, I am more than happy to have a look at those and, if I need to take action, I certainly will.

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