Nine new community representatives have been appointed by Ad Standards, Australia’s advertising complaints handling body, to the Ad Standards Community Panel.
The Ad Standards Community Panel is an independent and diverse group of community members responsible for adjudicating complaints made by the public about advertising content.
The new Community Panel members represent a broad range of backgrounds and experiences and include a former refugee, a landscape construction apprentice, an artist and Aboriginal affairs advocate, a member of the Sikh community, a stevedore, and the CEO of a national organisation that supports transgender young people and their families.
Richard Bean, Ad Standards’ Executive Director, said the new appointments will add to the Panel’s current range of people with backgrounds from across the Australian community.
“The selection process was exciting as we received a multitude of applications from everyday Australians across the country. I believe we have succeeded in bringing together a group of people who represent, as much as possible, the diversity of Australian society.”
The new community representatives will join sixteen other Community Panel members who meet regularly to consider complaints about advertising and to determine whether advertising aligns with community standards and Australia’s advertising rules.
“The Ad Standards Community Panel is the centrepiece of Australia’s world-class advertising self-regulatory system. Diversity of background and opinion within the Community Panel is essential to ensuring decisions about advertising content reflect current community standards and values,” Richard Bean said.
“While they are active in their own communities, Community Panel members are not appointed to represent any particular interest group and, importantly, are independent of the advertising industry.”
A list of current Community Panel members can be found on the Ad Standards website.