The head of the Advertising Council of Australia has adding his voice to latest push for Australia's creative industry to do better by its female talent.

In a statement posted to LinkedIn, Hale said it was "immensely disappointing that we still need to have this discussion".

"It has long been established that diversity and inclusion have been ongoing challenges for Australian advertising and if we are to ensure the long-term prosperity of the industry, we all have a role to create change. And that means everyone."

Tony Hale's response comes after the latest Australian creative ranking from industry trade press Campaign Brief failed to identify any female talent, spurring a heated discussion across LinkedIn surrounding the ongoing misogyny that is faced by female creatives in this industry.

In 2022, the ACA launched a diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) program called Create Space, which highlighted immediate actions the industry body would be taking to address key issues of inequality, exclusion and underrepresentation, including the development of Member Rules, a new Code of Conduct, a Code of Ethics and the introduction of an Accreditation program.

"This year's Create Space update showed some progress in diversity metrics but confirmed how much work is yet to be done," said Hale.

Hale emphasised that there is gender balance across ACA's Board, AWARD Council, AWARD School applicants and winners, AWARD Creative Leadership delegates, AWARD Award and Effie Award judges, and "almost every program that ACA runs". He clarified that this was "not because we work hard to achieve parity" but because "the best candidates naturally emerge".

"Our data shows that women in senior management have increased from 22% in 2017 to 42% in 2023. Although underrepresentation persists in senior creative positions, the balance is improving. To continue the momentum, we all have to celebrate and shine a light on the success stories of our incredibly diverse talent to inspire the next generation of leaders.

"While we still have a long way to go, the only way to overcome discrimination and lack of inclusivity is to create an industry culture that simply does not tolerate it.

"We are a better industry than this. If we are truly committed to equity, it is incumbent on individuals and businesses to only align with those who share and represent their values," Hale concluded.