The Australian Communications and Media Authority has set out its expectations for standards of decency after an investigation into sexist comments made on radio about the Australian women’s soccer team.
The investigation under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) followed thousands of complaints made about The Marty Sheargold Show, which was broadcast across Triple M network stations in Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Maryborough on February 24 this year.
Host Sheargold made the pejorative comments during an update about the Matildas’ recent performance at the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, an invitational international women’s soccer tournament. The comments included him saying he would “rather hammer a nail through the head of my penis than watch” a women’s soccer tournament.
The authority found the four broadcast licensees breached the Commercial Radio Code of Practice 2017 by allowing derogatory language and sexist themes to be broadcast on the three-hour weekday drivetime show, which was subsequently cancelled by parent company Southern Cross Austereo (SCA).
The authority found the licensees breached Clause 2.2 of the Code: “Program content must not offend generally accepted standards of decency (for example, through the use of unjustified language), having regard to the demographic characteristics of the audience of the relevant program”.
It considered an “ordinary reasonable listener” to be “a person of fair average intelligence, who is neither perverse, nor morbid or suspicious of mind, nor avid for scandal. That person does not live in an ivory tower but can and does read between the lines in the light of that person’s general knowledge and experience of worldly affairs”.
The licensees acknowledged that “some of (Sheargold’s) remarks were not ideal listening and did not align with SCA’s company values” but that “nothing in those comments was, in our view, offensive to generally acceptable standards of decency for a Triple M listener”.
“When sports teams perform badly (and it is arguable the Matildas are not playing at their best) there are harsh comments made from time to time … Making disdainful comments about the behaviour of the Matildas (and was done in the comments) is not indecent,” they said.
They argued that Sheargold’s comment about hammering a nail through his penis was “certainly unsavoury and not something we as a network condone” but that it “was a one-off reference made to anatomy in the context of a lively discussion about sport, made outside of core school pick-up times”.
“It was not sexual in nature – it was certainly designed to shock; however we do not believe that this would be likely to offend the usual, reasonable Triple M listener,” they said.
“While the comments may be perceived as harsh and disrespectful by some, it is our strong view that the reasonable Triple M listener will have recognised them in that tone and style and taken them as such, as listeners to the station and, in particular, to the show, understood Marty Sheargold’s style to be contrarian in nature, to be provocative and to push boundaries with respect to his opinions on sports and other topical issues.”
The authority said it was not confined to consider only the standards of the core audience of the program.
“The ACMA acknowledges that diverse audiences in Australia will not necessarily have common tastes and standards,” it said.
“However, the ACMA does consider that conveying sexist attitudes in presenting a topic is inconsistent with generally accepted standards of decency in contemporary Australia.
“The ACMA considers the prevailing attitude of the host was one of sexism and was clearly demonstrated by phrases like, ‘Oh, she believes in what?! Better be men!’ and ‘Got any men’s sport?’.
“The host also used a sexist stereotype that the Matildas were behaving like ‘Year 10 girls’ and proceeded to mimic a Year 10 girl, changing the sound of his voice to further amplify the sexist nature of the comment.
“The ACMA finds that these comments were overtly sexist and conveyed to the ordinary reasonable listener that women’s sport is inferior in comparison to men’s sport.”
The authority said Sheargold’s comments about alleged infighting at the Matildas conveyed an opinion that their poor performance was related to their gender and perpetuated a stereotype of women’s behaviour.
“These sexist comments, expressed in a demeaning and sarcastic tone, demonstrated a level of contempt and disdain for women’s sport and more generally women,” it said.
“Combined with the high levels of community respect for the Matildas and their role in promoting women’s soccer and sport, the discussion overall was unacceptable and breached generally acceptable standards of decency.
“The pejorative comments used by the host throughout the relevant broadcast conveyed to the audience that women’s sport is inferior to men’s, highlighted in the crude and graphic manner in which he said ‘I’d rather hammer a nail through the head of my penis than watch that’ (i.e. the AFC Women’s Asian Cup).
“While the decency provisions do not preclude discussion or expression of opinion on women’s sport, the demeaning and offensive language used by the host goes beyond what can be considered generally acceptable standards of decency.”
The ACMA acknowledged that the broadcast was at times presented in a light-hearted manner, but did not accept “that the comedic context, nor the licensees’ submission that the host was attempting humour, diminished the impact of the derogatory language, derisive tone, and sexist themes broadcast”.
The ACMA is now considering enforcement action against the licensees.
Share this article