The Outdoor Media Association (OMA) will today argue for the industry’s self-regulatory system at the Queensland Government’s inquiry into sexually explicit outdoor ads.

Charmaine Moldrich, chief executive of the OMA, will present at the public hearings which started at 9am this morning at Parliament House.

“Quite often, when people think about sexually explicit outdoor advertising, they immediately think of advertisements that appeared as long as 10 years ago in some pockets of areas,” Moldrich said.

“We don’t disagree that protecting the interests of the community is important, but you have to base the debate on what’s happening today across the entire state.”

When hearings commenced in early August Moldrich said new legislation would be unnecessarily costly.

“The impact of a legislative framework, like a classification system, would be minimal as the industry is already achieving a near-perfect record, especially given the significant resourcing requirements a system like this requires,” Moldrich said.

“Introducing this kind of red tape would prove costly for the government, taxpayers, and the many small businesses that use and work within the outdoor advertising industry.”