SCMA | Southern Community Media Association

A Must Read For All Community Broadcasters

We all know that there is an election waiting to happen, infact by the time you read this there may already be an election underway.

Politics can be an exciting game and an election even more exciting but with that game just like all games there are rules and this article will outline what rules all community radio broadcasters need to adhere to during an election.

We have an election, we have rules and we’ve also got the Australian Communications Media Authority, who will be quite busy at the moment trying to ensure that everything runs smoothly during a very action packed peirod of Australian History in the making.

The Election is not an everyday event so understanding the rules is probably not going to be easy and that’s why ACMA has released a detailed factsheet that will really aid all of you in understanding and complying with the rules.

Now to understand what the rules mean for you as a community broadcaster you’ll need to download and read the PDF factsheet below, but first let’s sumarise the key points for reference:

The Broadcasting Services Act, Parts 1 & 2 of Schedule 2 contain definitions and rules that deal with access, timing and identification in relation to the broadcast of political and election matter.

1. Access for all parties – If you broadcast any political or election matter during any election period then you must give all parties contesting the election a reasonable oppourtunity to also broadcast election matter. You don’t have to provide access free of cost.
2. Blackout period – A broadcaster must stop broadcating election advertisement from the end of the Wednesday before the polling day until the close of the poll on polling day.
3. Announcement particulars – All radio broadcasts must include a spoken announcement (a tag containing authorisation and political party etc) of the required particulars as detailed in the downloadable factsheet (pages 1 & 2).
4. Record Keeping – Political & election material broadcast must be logged and records including the name, address & occupation or the person who requested the broadcast or the company name, address and principal office address if requested by a company. Keep these records for 6 weeks or until the close of polling on polling day whichever is longer. A Broadcast in the form of news, an address, a statement, a commentary or discussion, that relates to a political subject or current affairs, must have a record of the matter in a form approved by the ACMA. The record must be kept for six weeks, or 60 days if a complaint has been made about the matter.

The above key points require detailed understanding and the definitions of many terms are available in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.

If a licence condition in relation to political or election matter is breached, the ACMA may take enforcement action, including the issue of remedial directions, or the acceptance of enforceable undertakings.

Please donwload the ACMA’s PDF Factsheet here.

If you have any further questions about the above subject please get in touch with us using the contact page or email info [at] scma.org.au – replace [at] with @

A federal election could be called at anytime, and the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is concerned that over 300 000 Victorian are ‘missing’ from the electoral roll. With only months to go before an expected federal election the AEC is urging everyone to check their enrolment today!

State Manager for Victoria Jenni McMullan says “The AEC is urging all Australian citizens aged 18 years and over to enrol now, it is very important that everyone is enrolled and ready to go for the upcoming federal election”.

“Even if you think you’re enrolled, if you’ve moved house in the past three years, you may not be. You’ve got to update your address on the electoral roll every time you move to avoid the risk of losing your vote” Jenni said.

Younger Victorians aged 18 – 39 years make up around 70% of the missing and are the main target of AEC enrolment campaigns to encourage awareness.

If you need to check your enrolment, update your details or enrol for the first time, you can do this by visiting the AEC website www.aec.gov.au or calling 13 23 26. You can also pick up an enrolment form from any Australian Post office or find out more by visiting your local divisional office and talking with AEC staff.