It’s a quiet Saturday morning in Perth, one of those slow starts that you have in family life. The kettle was boiling and the dog was asleep under the table. The West Australian, one of the few remaining print papers in our state was spread across the table. My elderly relative and I were flicking through its pages, joined by my children.
In Western Australia, our homegrown print media choices are slim: community newspapers, The West Australian and the The Sunday Times. Apart from a couple of independent community newspapers, all of these papers are owned by the same company. Like many people, my older relatives prefer print because it’s familiar, part of their routine. For many in our community, especially older adults and children, print still remains the most accessible form of news.
As I turned a page, a large image caught my attention … children wearing virtual reality goggles, big smiles on their faces. Below this, a half-page image of a coral reef. I read with interest the description accompanying the first image about the use of VR tech. I was expecting an educational initiative, a celebration of curiosity and nature.
The heading was “Young mines at work”. The story described a mining-sponsored VR event at the WA Museum where children planted seeds and learnt how mining could be part of a sustainable future. The children were quoted as saying, “it showed that mining isn’t just about the digging, it’s about looking after the land, too.” I realised that this picture was not a science and education story after all, but an advertisement for Western Australia’s mining companies including Woodside, a company seeking to expand its gas projects along our coastline. I also felt conflicted about the second picture of the coral reef being used to promote Woodside’s support of marine research.
These images targeted at children and their the sense of learning, while the reality is that these initiatives are sponsored by an industry that contributes directly to the climate crisis that threatens those very reefs and the future of the children in the picture.
The images reminded me of concerns that began over a decade ago but continue today around Woodside sponsoring local children’s surf lifesaving programs, and young “nippers” wearing branded rashies. Many parents were and are are uneasy, questioning what it means for children’s play and health to be linked to the marketing of industries that jeopardise planetary health. In 2023 parents launched a petition against the sponsorship. In 2024 the sponsorship was nevertheless renewed.
Ownership of our major WA newspapers is important to acknowledge. The West Australian is part of Seven West Media, whose controlling shareholder, Seven Group Holdings, is chaired by Kerry Stokes, a businessman with extensive industrial and mining-related interests, including WesTrac, a major Caterpillar equipment dealer that serves the mining sector. This doesn’t mean every story is shaped by those interests, but when advertising and sponsorship come from industries whose activities drive climate change, the line between education, promotion and influence becomes blurred. Stokes is said to be retiring next February, and the effect on the papers’ editorial direction remains to be seen.
Print media may be declining, but it still reaches those with least access to digital news – our oldest and youngest who are also the most vulnerable to climate change. As a parent, I find it troubling, but as a paediatric nurse and educator, I found it ethically confronting. I work with nurses who care deeply about children and young people, and who increasingly recognise that human health is inseparable from the health of the planet.
The concept of planetary health highlights the interdependence of human wellbeing and the natural systems that sustain it, with the escalating climate crisis affecting air, water, and soil quality, biodiversity, food security, extreme weather and displacement – all disproportionately impacting children. Children’s developing organs and immune systems, higher exposure, longer lifespans, dependence on caregivers, and limited ability to speak up make them especially vulnerable to pollution, heat, and environmental degradation, which contribute to respiratory illness, malnutrition, injury, anxiety and “eco-distress.” The Australian College of Children and Young People’s Nurses recognises planetary health as a critical determinant of child wellbeing (Position Statements), aligning with the International Council of Nurses’ call for climate-focused nursing advocacy (ICN marks COP29 Health Day with strengthened Position Statement calling for urgent climate action | ICN – International Council of Nurses). For those of us who accept these principles professionally, it raises questions about industry advertising.
Last year Woodside spent what apprers to be a lot of money on social investment. In reality what was spents represents a small fraction of its operating revenue, roughly fifteen hours’ worth of the company’s income. Much of the revenue generated by large resource companies flows to shareholders rather than into community wellbeing or sustainable development. Community sponsorships, VR exhibits, and children’s activities cost little, but create powerful impressions of being a ‘good’ community citizen. Meanwhile, projects such as Woodside’s Burrup Peninsula gas expansion pose serious risks to local ecosystems, including cultural and ecological damage to the Dampier Archipelago, a site of immense heritage and biodiversity significance.
Recently, Alcoa was reprimanded for advertising that suggested jarrah forests affected by mining could be “regenerated,” even as it sought approval to expand operations – a clear case of greenwashing. This advertising blurs truth and erodes public trust at a time when clarity and honesty are essential for environmental and health stewardship.
It is unsettling to see children drawn to stories, activities and images designed to charm and educate but which quietly reinforce the acceptability of environmental harm. As a nurse and educator, it feels like an ethical failure to allow corporations to shape children’s understanding of “goodness,” “progress,” and “care” through the lens of marketing. The National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (2022) recognise climate change as a healthcare priority. This acknowledgment carries a moral implication: if the climate crisis is a health crisis, then the way we communicate about it, and who controls that communication, is also a matter of health ethics.
Advertising by industries that contribute to planetary degradation cannot be treated as neutral. It shapes perception, values, and trust. And when directed at children, it becomes an act of influence over those least able to discern motive or impact. Just as society has come to question the appropriateness of alcohol and fast-food sponsorship in children’s sports, we now need to ask: should fossil fuel and extractive industries be permitted to market to children through schools, museums or family media?
Long after I closed that newspaper, the image of those children in VR goggles stays with me as a symbol of imagination and possibility that has been hijacked into a narrative that hides the true costs.
It is time we had a broader conversation about regulating the promotion of companies whose activities directly affect the health of our children and the planet they will inherit. When advertising becomes indistinguishable from education, when the reef becomes an ad, we risk teaching our children the deadliest thing of all: complacency.