Contents

1. Political Matter – Year Round and During Elections
   1. Obligations Around Election Matter
2. FAQs

Political Matter – Year Round and During Elections

There are rules around broadcast of certain types of political material, which apply year-round, as well as specific rules around elections.  

The purpose of these rules is to ensure that audiences are made aware of the identity of parties and other political participants who have asked for their material to be broadcast.

This means if you broadcast political matter at the request of another person you must ensure it includes authorisation details (the “required particulars”).  You will need to do this whether the political matter is in a sponsorship announcement or spoken inside a program, so it’s important to know the rules.

A “person” includes a political party, corporation or association as well as an individual.

(These rules don’t apply if the station is advocating its own position on a social or policy issue and not being directed by someone else.)
  

Where the rules are found

For broadcasts generally, the rules are in Part 5 Schedule 2 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.

For guidance on what you need to do in elections there are also rules for Federal elections in:

• Section 321D of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918;
• Part 3 of the Commonwealth Electoral (Authorisation of Voter Communication) Determination 2021

For examples of how the required particulars need to be placed around electoral matter in federal elections, see the AEC’s Better Practice Guide.  For state and local government elections, visit your local state electoral commission website.

For more detail and case studies, see ACMA - Political and election matter guidelines.  

What are the “required particulars” and where should they go?

The required particulars generally include the name of the person, party and their location but you can find specific guidance on page 7 of ACMA - Political and election matter guidelines.

Generally speaking, on radio, the required particulars must be announced at the end of the communication, and on television, the required particulars must be announced and shown at the end of the communication.  The particulars must be in English and the same language as the broadcast (unless the broadcast is in more than 2 other languages in which case it must be in English and one of the other languages).

Licencee obligations

The station licencee is responsible for complying with the provision about broadcasting the required particulars so you need to take steps to determine whether the person who authorises the broadcast of political matter is a “disclosure entity” or not, as that will affect what the “required particulars” are – see page 7 of the ACMA - Political and election matter guidelines for more detail.

It is very important that you are clear on these obligations and that you take “reasonable steps” to make sure that the required particulars are correct - see p8 of the ACMA - Political and election matter guidelines for more detail on what’s expected.

What could go wrong

If there is a complaint, the ACMA may investigate a possible breach and will look at:

1. Did the broadcast include “political matter”: When considering this, the ACMA will look at things like:

• • the content of the broadcast and how an ordinary person would understand it. Some things are obviously political (such as telling people who to vote for) but a political matter could also an attempt to influence the audience’s position on an issue)
  • the overall presentation of the material, including the tone, style and emphasis.
  • the nature and style of accompanying audio or visual material
  • the context surrounding the broadcast. 

2. If so, was it included at the request of another person?
3. If so, were the required particulars broadcast correctly?

Keeping records

• Your station is required to keep records of the name, address and occupation of the person (or the name and address of the principal office if the person is a company) that requests the broadcast of political matter.
• These records must be kept for 6 weeks from date of broadcast or until the day on which the election ends - whichever is longer. These ACMA can direct you in writing to keep these records for a longer period and you must give them to the ACMA if they ask you for them in writing.

OBLIGATIONS AROUND ELECTION MATTER

What is ‘Election Matter’? 

‘Election matter’, in relation to an election, means matter of any of the following kinds:

1. matter commenting on, or soliciting votes for, a candidate at the election
2. matter commenting on, or advocating support of, a political party to which a candidate at the election belongs
3. matter commenting on, stating or indicating any of the matters being submitted to the electors at the election or any part of the policy of a candidate at the election or of the political party to which a candidate at the election belongs
4. matter referring to a meeting held or to be held in connection with the election.   

What is an ‘Election Period’? 

This varies from state to state – see page 11 of ACMA - Political and election matter guidelines    

Reasonable opportunities fpr participants in elections 

Licensees are not obliged to broadcast election matter at all. However, if you do, certain obligations arise.

If, during an election period a broadcaster broadcasts election matter, the broadcaster must give reasonable opportunities for broadcasting election matter to all political parties contesting the election which were represented in either House of the Parliament for which the election is to be held at the time of its last meeting before the election period.

There is no obligation for licensees to broadcast any election matter free of charge.

Election advertisements

There are rules around “election advertisements” which include an:

• advertisement that contains election matter for which the station receives money or any other consideration
• announcement that a program is sponsored by a candidate or candidates at the election
• announcement that a program is sponsored by a political party where a candidate at the election belongs to that party.

All election advertisements must include the “required particulars”.

Election ‘Blackouts’  

Elections blackout are periods when broadcasters cannot broadcast election advertisements (which includes sponsorships).

They start at midnight on the Thursday morning before polling day and concludes at the close of the poll (i.e. voting) on polling day.

Election blackouts only apply to federal and state or territory elections. There is no blackout period for local government elections.

The rules apply only to broadcasts, so you can continue to run election-related sponsorships and advertisements on your website or social media.

For federal elections, the ACMA updates its website information about current election blackouts shortly after election dates have been publicised by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

What records do I need to keep? 

Your station is required to keep records of the name, address and occupation of the person (or the name and address of the principal office if the person is a company) that requests the broadcast of political matter.

These records must be kept for 6 weeks from date of broadcast or until the day on which the election ends - whichever is longer. These ACMA can direct you in writing to keep these records for a longer period and you must give them to the ACMA if they ask you for them in writing.

Ongoing licence obligations

All the usual requirements apply under the Community Radio Codes of Practice and your station’s licence conditions. You still have to comply with the allowable minutes of sponsorship under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. It is therefore important to make sure that any interviews with political candidates are editorially separate from and not a condition of any sponsorship.

back to top

FAQs