Conservation groups have claimed that Adelaide airport removed their advertising during Labor’s national conference last week, while campaigns from gas and mining companies remained.
The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance (MDCA), the Bob Brown Foundation and the Adelaide Park Lands Association all their ads pulled at the airport as Labor politicians, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, arrived for the conference running from Thursday to Saturday, according to a report in The Guardian.
The MDCA said its ‘Save the Murray’ campaign had been running on an airport concourse digital billboard since 13 July and was contracted through to 26 July.
However, it said that the spots seemingly disappeared by the morning of 22 July. JCDecaux, which operates the billboards and screens in Adelaide Airport, reportedly told the group the airport deemed the ads “too political”.
The Adelaide Park Lands Association had booked a billboard on the airport’s main exit road for its ‘Stop the Chop’ campaign against tree removal in the city’s parks, set to go up Tuesday. It was cancelled last Friday.
The Bob Brown Foundation had ads booked across four sites at the airport from 20 to 26 July. These were taken down from midday on 23 July, following a decision from airport management.
The spot depicted a logged forest alongside a message about public support for ending native forest logging. JCDecaux reportedly told the foundation the removal followed a direct request from Adelaide airport, which owns the land the advertising assets sit on and retains final say over what runs.
Meanwhile, ads from Santos, the Minerals Council of Australia and Independent Schools Australia continued rotating. A campaign titled ‘Australia Runs on Natural Gas,’ carrying a political authorisation from the Australian Energy Producers chief executive, was also still airing. It has since been removed as well.
A separate Minerals Council ad featuring a Medicare card on a mining truck was pulled too, though an alternative from the same organisation kept running.
In a statement, MDCA co-director Craig Wilkins told B&T: “We are deeply disappointed that our positive messaging about a healthy River Murray has been pulled down after running successfully at the airport for over 10 days. We simply cannot understand why we have been caught up in a fight over other issues. Can anyone explain to me after looking at our ad and other ads currently running at the airport why ours have been removed and others remain?”
Bob Brown Foundation founder, Bob Brown, also told B&T in a statement: “This is Trump-lite behaviour by Labor, or censorship of public comment by Adelaide Airport. This is in stark contrast to the armaments ads, including fighter planes, so often on show at Canberra Airport. Apparently, Labor politicians are ok with weapons of death and destruction but not with ads calling for life and ending destruction of our native forests and wildlife. I call on Anthony Albanese to be big enough and fair enough to insist that these ads, and others calling for good environmental and social outcomes, be reinstated immediately.”
A number of European cities have banned fossil fuel advertising across city-owned and public spaces, with Amsterdam becoming the first capital city in the world to enact such a ban, effective from 1 May.
B&T contacted Adelaide Airport, JCDecaux and the Adelaide Park Lands Association for comment.