Greens spokesperson Caroline Le Couteur said the ACT Government should not profit from Jones’ “blatantly sexist, misogynistic dog-whistling”. Photo: Supplied.
The ACT Greens have thrown their support behind a community petition calling for Transport Canberra to immediately remove 2CC’s Alan Jones ads from the back of buses in their fleet, stating that the government should not profit from Jones’ “blatantly sexist, misogynistic dog-whistling”.
A month after 2CC announced it would syndicate the Alan Jones Breakfast Show, Jones made comments on air about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
“I just wonder whether Scott Morrison is going to be fully briefed to shove a sock down her throat,” Jones said on 15 August. “Now I hope Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhanders.”
The petition by Canberra Women in Business, which had 165 signatures at 11:30 this morning, calls for all ads promoting The Alan Jones Breakfast Show to be removed from buses.
The petition also says that all advertisements that promote people who make sexist public comments, like Alan Jones, should be added to the bans in the Transport Canberra advertising guidelines.
“These comments show that Alan Jones does not uphold acceptable community values and does not respect women publicly,” the petition reads. “These comments could encourage violence against women, and therefore the promotion of this broadcaster is inconsistent with the values we should uphold in our community.”
The current Transport Canberra advertising policy states that ads must not represent, portray or promote “a message that can be deemed offensive or demeaning to specific community groups (i.e. religious, ethnic, women, etc)”.
2015: We banned ads for junk food, alcohol, gambling, fossil fuels and weapons from being displayed on ACTION buses.
2019: We realised we forgot to include misogynists ????#Canberra pic.twitter.com/hVPXWEfmJ5
— Shane Rattenbury MLA (@ShaneRattenbury) August 20, 2019
Greens spokesperson Caroline Le Couteur said she does not want to see people who make sexist public comments promoted in a public space.
“Like most Canberrans, I find Mr Jones’ views appalling and harmful,” Ms Le Couteur said. “The ads certainly advertise Alan Jones and one of the things that Alan Jones is known for is misogyny.
“His comments support violence against women and he is not afraid to express them.
“We are in a situation in Australia wherein 2019 more than one woman a week have been killed by a current or former partner. Domestic violence is getting close to an epidemic in Australia.
“We do not need people promoting this and we don’t need the ACT Government to implicitly normalise this by allowing it on the back of their bus.”
When contacted by Region Media, 2CC station manager Michael Jones said the station was totally unaware of the petition.
“I don’t know anything about this. This is the first I have heard about it,” Mr Jones said. “I don’t know what they are on about.
“We have had no contact from Transport Canberra or the Greens or anybody about our bus backs. They should give us a call and tell us what their problem is.”
Around 80 advertisers have withdrawn their support from radio station 2GB and the Jones show since he made the comments about Ms Ardern. Macquarie Media said they would terminate Jones’ contract if he makes similar comments again.
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