Farewell and Thank you to an extraordinary trailblazer – CMA’s Honorary CEO, Barbara Biggins OAM CF – on her retirement

Barbara has been an advocate for healthy use of screens for over 50 years, motivated by her strong belief (built on her research knowledge and observation) that children’s screen experiences influence children’s healthy development.

In addition, she is a strong believer in the power of the stories we tell our children. For centuries, parents and grandparents have sat children on their laps and told them stories (often about the world and the way it works), understanding how their children were reacting and sharing thoughts together. Now, stories are told by media outlets who have neither knowledge of, nor responsibility for, their child audiences and whose stories are often misleading about the world we live in, and what really matters.

Barbara was a founding member of the SA Council for Children’s Film and TV (SACCFT) in 1973, and became an advocate for the Council (both SA and National) about issues related to TV. She conducted surveys of parents’ concerns, and researched and wrote submissions to many Inquiries, eg the 1977 Inquiry into Self-regulation of Australian Commercial TV stations, and the subsequent Senate inquiry, from which came the establishment of the Children’s TV Standards (CTS). In 1986, Barbara launched small screen, a unique monthly review of news, research and developments in children’s media environment, and she has continued to edit this to the present.

Her skills developed as Senior Librarian for SA’s Child and Family Health Service (1981-2001) have underpinned much of the research for submissions, media debates and for small screen.

In 1983, Barbara was invited to serve on the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal’s Children’s Program Committee which administered CTS. She also chaired the ABC’s SA Advisory Council and later the ABC’s National Advisory Council. In 1986, Barbara was awarded an OAM for service to the Arts, principally through her work with SACCFT.

Her work with SACCFT was extended when she became national President of the Australian Council for Children’s Films and TV (ACCFT) in 1991. This resulted in a major transformation of ACCFT (and transfer of the Secretariat to SA after 35 years in Victoria) into a research-based organisation, delivering trusted information to parents and professionals, and advocating for a healthy screen environment for children, this at a time when few if any such services existed. ACCFT became a strong coalition of major child-focussed organisations in Australia.

In 1993, Barbara was invited by then Attorney General, Michael Lee, to Chair the Classification Review Board. She lead that group in deliberating on disputed classifications for films, computer games and publications, in a part-time capacity, until 2001 (the statutory limit for such appointments).

Barbara has continued to spearhead the pioneering work of ACCFT through the formation of the Australian Council on Children and the Media (now Children and Media Australia) to the present day, becoming Honorary CEO after 10 years as President. In 1992, she oversaw the introduction of a unique, child-development-based movie review service, Know Before You Go. Now in its 23rd year, this award-winning service is respected and appreciated by parents Australia-wide, and increasingly across the world, particularly in the US, Canada, India and Indonesia.

Successful outcomes from such endeavours have been video-games classified as films; recognition of food ads as an influence on children’s eating habits; recognition of sexualisation as an issue; legislation to stop the screening in cinemas of trailers for movies with a higher classification than the feature film being shown; successful cooperation with US research company to reveal hidden tracking in children’s apps; the development of resources to protect children’s online privacy; an agreement in 2023 for Flicks to use CMA’s movie reviews’ Green Tick age recommendation on Flicks’ NZ, Australian and UK websites.

Recognition of the critical importance of strong voices and quality choices in children’s media has motivated Barbara to persevere for over 30 years in searching and advocating for scarce funding to ensure that CMA’s pioneering initiatives continue.

She has given invited addresses at international conferences in Malaysia, The Philippines and New Zealand (twice) and many national conferences in Australia. Recognition of her expertise and service expanded from her OAM in 1986 through the award of a Churchill Fellowship in 1989, by being recognised as Senior Australian of the Year for SA in 2004, and with both a Churchill Trust Impact grant and a Churchill Trust Recognition award in 2022.

Barbara has completed 52 years of distinguished, dedicated, dogged and mostly unpaid application of her talents to advocating for the rights of children to quality screen experiences, and for their protection as they exercise their rights as media consumers. And now she has retired!

On behalf of all those who have worked with Barbara through her many different roles, we congratulate her on all that she has achieved, laud her for her extraordinarly breadth and depth of knowledge, and thank her for being a truly multi-talented, forward thinking and genuinely supportive, hardworking, warm hearted colleague whose commitment to advocating for children’s safety, wellbeing and rights as users of digital and screen media has been unwavering for over half a century.

Enjoy every day of your retirement, Barbara. As you turn the page to your next adventure, we hope each day brings you new joys, new discoveries, and plenty of time for the things you love most. Thank you for leading with vision, kindness, and heart — your legacy will continue to inspire us.

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