AUSTRALIA—Commercials Advice (CAD), a division of Free TV and Australia’s self-regulatory body for Australian television advertising, has banned a series of Australian Sex Party TV ads advocating a policy of voluntary euthanasia. The ads had been approved for broadcast by CAD over four weeks ago on August 1 and were due to start screening today. At 4pm last Friday, however, after all of the production studio facilities had closed for the weekend, removing the possibility of changing or amending the ads, the Sex Party was told by CAD that they were in breach of their guidelines and—unless amended—would be taken off the air.
Sex Party President and Senate candidate for Victoria Fiona Patten said that CAD’s actions constituted a direct interference in the free and fair distribution of political information in the final stages of a federal election. It also contradicted the High Court ruling on political advertising established in1992 in Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Wills and Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd v Commonwealth (ACTV) 177 CLR 1, in which it held that there was an implied freedom of political communication in the Constitution, having based its decision on the representative nature of our democracy.
Patten called on Communications Minister Steven Conroy and Opposition spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull to come out and say where they stood on the issue and whether they would uphold CAD’s decision or allow TV stations to run the ads without penalty.
She also said that CAD’s legal advisor, Alison Lee, had told her that the reason CAD had waited four weeks to inform her they had changed their mind was simply an “administrative error,” but that there was no room for a change in the decision.
Patten said that CAD’s decision to wait until the eve of the advertisement’s broadcast was evidence of gross negligence and a partisan attitude toward a political party at election time. “The ads simply had the words ’voluntary euthanasia’ printed on the screen with her voice under them, telling viewers that the party’s position was to support a change in the law,” she said. “Our ads neither depicted a method of suicide nor promoted or encouraged suicide. They simply stated the party’s policy. CAD’s back flip at the 11th hour is an embarrassment to media self-regulation in Australia and, in our opinion, unconstitutional.”
CAD Guideline 2.17.5 states, “Realistic depiction of methods of suicide, or promotion or encouragement of suicide, is deemed to be ‘Material Not Suitable for Television.’”
Under CAD’s interpretation of this, a political advertisement calling for reform of the laws around voluntary euthanasia in Australia is deemed as ‘promoting suicide.’ According to Patten, however, most reasonable people would consider such an interpretation to be ridiculous and completely outside what was fair and reasonable in the context of an election.
“CAD is an organization that TV stations fund to be an independent arbiter of TV standards,” said the Sex Party in a statement. “When CAD stamps and numbers an advertisement, clients have an expectation that they will stand by their decisions or at least advise a client within a reasonable period of any changes to their decisions. In this case CAD’s decision would have a significant impact on the vote that a small party like the Sex Party would receive, which in turn could affect the makeup of a future parliament. CAD’s decision has caused the Sex Party to have to dump half of its entire advertising schedule.”
Patten also called on TV stations to broadcast the advertisement as editorial, saying, “I’m asking TV stations around the country to take a stand against the censorship of political ideas and policies and support political free speech by including the banned ad in current affairs and news programs where it is free from bureaucratic censorship.”
The ad can be viewed here.
