A breakfast radio program in Queensland has come under fire after one of it’s hosts went on a rant about transgender students using the bathroom and his daughter’s school. The discussion included reference’s to the thirteen year old’s genitalia.
Paul ‘Campo’ Campion hosts the breakfast program on Riverside 94.9 in south east Queensland alongside colleague Marnie Titherage. The station is part of the Australian Radio Network (ARN) who operate over 50 radio stations across Australia including Perth’s 96FM.
This week the hosts chatted about a story that appeared in Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper that claimed a student in a Melbourne school was identifying as a cat. The validity of the story of has been questioned by many people in the media, and follows a series of similar hoax reports that have appeared around the world.
During the segment discussing the story Campion told listeners he disagreed with allowing transgender students to use the bathroom that they felt comfortable in.
He said he feared for his daughter’s safety because a transgender student at her school could share bathrooms with her. In the discussion he also referred to the 13-year-old student’s genitalia.
The segment drew criticism from parents of transgender children.
Michelle Inns, founder of the Parents of Transgender Kids Facebook group told Brisbane’s Q-News that the comments disgusted her community members.
“The discussion of a minor‘s genitalia on public radio is also extremely inappropriate.
“It is bitterly disappointing after all of the recent community backlash against transgender discrimination in our schools and political system that the radio station has allowed this kind of behaviour.
“People seem to assume that shared bathroom use is putting their children at risk.
“Our kids are already struggling with their bodies and are incredibly self-conscious. It’s more likely they will be seeking privacy and trying to avoid conflict.” inns said.
On Friday Campion told listeners he had not intended to cause offence.
“My comments were not meant to hurt anyone, they are simply a father trying to manoeuvre a changing world with his 14-year-old daughter, who is also having to understand things she knows nothing about.”
“If you see my protection and feelings about my daughter as transphobic, there is not much I can do about that.” Campion told listeners.
The station’s manager have said while the on-air comments would not have contravened the broadcasting codes of practice, staff at the station will be given more training on how to approach transgender issues.
General Manager David Wiltshire said it was disappointing that the station’s current guidelines had not be adhered to.
“We agree that the discussion around transgender girls sharing changing facilities with cisgender girls should never have taken place on our broadcast.” Wiltshire said.
Radio hosts often end up in hot water with LGBTIQA+ discussions
In 2020 Melbourne’s Jewish radio station J-AIR dropped a syndicated program from it’s schedule after the show included an interview that suggested the Covid-19 pandemic was a gift from God to rid the world of homosexuality.
ABC Melbourne’s John Faine was criticised in 2017 after his show put a call to air where the listener voiced their support for the Nazi’s regime’s practice of sending people who were homosexual to concentration camps. The call was quickly terminated once Faine worked out what the caller was saying.
Some businesses pulled their advertisements from Perth’s Sonshine FM when they aired an interviewed during the debate over same-sex marriage that claimed being gay leads to an early death.
Back in 2015 Perth’s Mix94.5 offered an apology after it’s Breakfast show with Clairsy, Shane and Kymba aired a segment that invited people to test how gay they were. The station noted that gay staff working on the show had not found the segment offensive, but acknowledged many listeners did.
Perth radio shock-jock Howard Sattler was dismissed from talkback station 6PR in 2013 after he asked Prime Minister Julia Gillard if her partner was gay. Sattler launched legal proceedings against the station and the parties later came to a confidential out of court settlement. The broadcaster who died in 2021 is also remembered for threatening to reveal the identities of people living with HIV.
Potentially the most remembered radio discussion that landed a host in hot water came from Perth’s Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas. His 2020 on-air rant lead to multiple attempts at an apology, and impacted his work at 6PR, Channel Seven, Telethon and had people questioning his suitability to be Perth’s Lord Mayor.
Zempilas said he’d learned about the transgender community, and would continue to learn more about the LGBTIQA+ community’s needs, but admitted actions would be stronger than words.
To date he’s been a vocal supporter of the city’s LGBTIQA+ advisory group, launched a new inclusion plan, increased funding to the annual PrideFEST and announced Pride WA would finally get a permanent home in the Northbridge Piazza, sand backed a plan to install a huge Pride rainbow in the city.
OIP Staff
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DISCHARGED: info@discharged.org.au / discharged.org.au
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Lifeline: 13 11 14 / lifeline.org.au
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