Fresh calls for campervan ban in NSW
The NSW government is facing fresh calls to ban a popular type of campervan, after one of these vehicles caused a stir while driving through Ballina over the weekend.
The vehicle in question was owned by Wicked, a rental company that’s gained notoriety for providing vehicles with offensive slogans on the side. The Daily Telegraph reports when Lennox Head resident Beth Hansen noticed the vehicle parked next to a popular children’s playground, she started to feel sick.
“I was just sickened, I felt revolted. I’ve got grandchildren, I can imagine anyone with children who was following that van and the questions that might be asked,” Mrs Hansen said.
“It’s absolutely not wanted on our streets.
“I understood there were moves under way to make that offensive advertising illegal.”
Mrs Hansen says this was the first van she’s seen in a while with such an offensive tag.
“What I had noticed was more were appearing with just the Wicked campervan sign on the side,” Mrs Hansen said.
“I thought that’s good action is being taken and those revolting signs are gone but this is obviously not the case.”
There have been calls to ban these controversial vehicles in the past. Last year the Blue Mountains Council told Wicked Campers they were prohibited from entering popular council-owned caravan parks at Blackheath and Katoomba.
Staff at the site were given power to turn away any vehicles they deemed to contain, “misogynistic, racial and degrading slogans and imagery”.
Byron Bay Council successfully implemented a ban in 2016 after failing to get State government approval, with then-Premier Mike Baird saying, “I don’t think it’s something that the state government should be getting involved in.”
Ballina MP Tamara Smith said she was disappointed and disgusted by the quantity of Wicked vans still bearing these offensive slogans.
“My office did receive complaints about Wicked campers in 2016 when another constituent Paul McCarthy campaigned to get Wicked to stop putting awful slogans on vehicles because children were reading them and asking him what the words meant,” Ms Smith said.
“And that goes to the nub of why these slogans are so offensive – anyone of any age from can see and read them and the vehicles are right in front of people in the street or passing by houses. There is no choice not to see these messages the way there is with, for example, television.”
What are your thoughts? Should these vehicles be banned?