{"id":517357,"date":"2026-03-04T04:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T04:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/517357\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T04:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T04:15:13","slug":"social-services-minister-tanya-plibersek-slams-reality-show-for-promoting-coercive-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/517357\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek slams reality show for promoting ‘coercive control’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated March 4, 2026 \u2014 12:22pm,first published 12:03pm<\/p>\n

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Australia\u2019s social services minister has accused Married at First Sight<\/a>, the nation\u2019s most popular reality show, of giving a platform to \u201ccoercive control\u201d, after a male contestant agreed that he might want a romantic partner that is more like an \u201cobedient\u201d dog than an equal.<\/p>\n

Tanya Plibersek, who has been leading the government\u2019s push against domestic violence since taking over the portfolio following the May election, urged parents not to let their children watch the reality show, which she said had normalised unhealthy, controlling behaviours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen men who idolise \u2018submissive\u2019 and \u2018obedient\u2019 women are normalised on prime-time TV, it means coercive control is given a national platform,\u201d Plibersek wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Plibersek posted a clip of the show\u2019s companion series MAFS: After the Dinner Party, which showed the interaction between host Laura Byrne, and contestant Tyson Gordon, where Byrne challenged Gordon\u2019s views on what his role as a man in a relationship should be.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Tyson<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want someone who is obedient, yes, it\u2019s controlling, and you want a dog,\u201d Byrne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe that\u2019s what I want,\u201d Tyson replied.<\/p>\n

He later backtracked when challenged by the panel of hosts, saying \u201cI don\u2019t want a literal dog, but I want to be man of the house\u201d.<\/p>\n

The intervention from Plibersek is the latest condemnation of the show, which has repeatedly courted controversy for its depiction of problematic behaviour.<\/p>\n

Married at First Sight faced similar criticism<\/a> last year after contestant Paul Antoine allegedly punched the wall of the bedroom he shared with on-screen wife Carina Mirabile during an argument about her previous sexual partners (a topic that Gordon has also expressed discomfort with on the show this season).<\/p>\n

The behaviour was labelled \u201ctoxic, inappropriate and unacceptable\u201d by the show\u2019s in-house relationship experts on air, but some fans and domestic violence experts<\/a> criticised the reality series for allowing Antoine to continue in the experiment and not using the moment to have a broader conversation about coercive control.<\/p>\n

NSW Police also launched an investigation into the incident, which has since been closed and no further police action is expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that this is being mainstreamed on a really popular show is really disappointing,\u201d Plibersek said of this latest incident. \u201cI really do think the makers of this show need to think twice before platforming this sort of misogyny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"John<\/a><\/p>\n

She said presenting some men\u2019s need to exert control over women as normal had to be called out, and urged parents to prevent their children from watching and being exposed to the behaviours aired.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not entertaining, it\u2019s incredibly dangerous. This is the exact kind of cultural messaging we\u2019re trying to change,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n

She said the messaging encouraged the dehumanisation of women and was supercharged by algorithms \u201cpeddling misogyny for profit\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing our bit as a government \u2013 we\u2019ve delayed kids access to social media for this very reason, and we\u2019re investing in education programs that promote healthy and equal relationships,\u201d Plibersek said.<\/p>\n

\"BecBec Zacharia (left) looks shocked as Tyson Gordon faces off with Laura Byrne, Brittany Hockley and Jules Lund.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on previous controversies last month, before this season\u2019s premiere, the show\u2019s long-running relationship expert John Aiken told this masthead<\/a> he took pleasure in being able to \u201chighlight the inappropriateness of that behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be the person to call it out, to make very clear to the audience and to the group that this is unacceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn investigation was launched after Paul Antoine (left) allegedly punched a hole in the wall of his shared apartment with \u201cwife\u201d Carina Mirabile. The investigation has since been closed.Nine<\/p>\n

Though he pointed out \u201cthe show is very unpredictable\u201d and \u201cunscripted\u201d, arguing production can\u2019t foresee such events, Aiken also took pride in the series\u2019 ability to \u201cshine a spotlight\u201d on what is \u201cinappropriate\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d behaviour in relationships.<\/p>\n

Channel 9, which broadcasts MAFS, has been approached for comment on this latest incident \u2013 as has Laura Byrne, the co-host who confronted Gordon on After the Dinner Party.<\/p>\n

Stan, which broadcasts After the Dinner Party, is owned by Nine, the publisher of this masthead. <\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"BrittanyBrittany Busch<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.\"MegMeg Watson<\/a> is deputy TV editor at The Age and Sydney Morning HeraldConnect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated March 4, 2026 \u2014 12:22pm,first published 12:03pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-517357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}