The Australian government yesterday stepped up its campaign against a “misogynistic” camper van firm, branding its notorious fleet of graffiti-clad vehicles vulgar and offensive.
Officials choose International Women’s Day to launch the tirade against Wicked Campers, a van hire firm whose spray-painted slogans have long been a source of outrage on Australian roads.
“We have no tolerance for sexist, misogynistic and offensive slogans on camper vans, or those displayed anywhere else for that matter, no matter how hard some try to justify their existence,” Australian Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer said in a statement.
The hire firm, popular with backpackers, has long come under fire from politicians and concerned parents, and has been banned or discouraged from festivals.
The Australian Advertising Standards Bureau has for years received complaints about slogans spray-painted on Wicked Campers vehicles.
In January, the bureau found the company breached its code of ethics with an obscene slogan inviting people to masturbate and in 2014 the firm was forced to apologize after an online petition drew more than 100,000 signatures protesting a coarse van slogan regarding “princesses.”
In 2008, Wicked Campers was subject to criticism over a xenophobic slogan concerning Japan’s tradition of whale hunting.
The Australian government said that it would coordinate a response with state authorities to remove a loophole that allowed the firm to change its vehicle registration to a different state once a complaint had been lodged.
“These vehicles are offensive and belong in a junkyard, not on Australian roads,” Australian Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack said. “By choosing to avoid these vehicles, you’re also choosing to ensure parents or grandparents won’t have to explain the vile meaning of these disgusting signs or images to their children or grandchildren while driving on our roads.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese