The following residents of the ACT draw to the attention of the ACT Assembly:
Public space advertising is a socially, economically and environmentally destructive and fundamentally undemocratic practice: giving a collective community asset to a private company.
It is also hugely unpopular in the ACT, having been the subject of sustained community campaigning to protect our relatively ad free status.
Ads have begun creeping into our city:
- Illegal ads, such as billboards at the Canberra Centre, McDonalds ads on bus shelters, or digital billboards in Bunda Street, are proliferating.
- New types of ads, such as parked billboards and developer ads on construction site hoardings.
- More public transport ads, the sudden emergence of tram advertisements and window blocking ads on buses, which literally make people sick.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the Assembly to call on the ACT Government to:
- Direct Transport Canberra and Access Canberra to immediately remove all existing illegal advertisements.
- Introduce specific offences for roadside advertising using parked vehicles.
- Remove public transport advertisements that block passengers’ ability to see outside.
- Review and update the rules for what advertising content is allowed on public transport and apply these rules to bus and tram shelters as well as vehicles.
- End bus shelter ads by committing to not renewing the Adshel contract.
Noting that advertising contributes to approximately 0.586% of the total cost of TC operations, the petitioners also request the Assembly undertake consultation on the community support for replacing all public transport advertisements with locally commissioned artwork.