Conditions for granting access to proceedings of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the purpose of recording and broadcasting excerpts

Adopted by the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings on 2 June 1986 and revised on 7 June 1994

1. Excerpts may be taken from proceedings of each House or of the Main Committee of the House of Representatives (whether or not the proceedings are being continuously broadcast) commencing at the time fixed for the meeting of the House until the adjournment of that House until the next sitting.

2. Excerpts shall be recorded from the audio signal of proceedings transmitted by the House monitoring system throughout Parliament House, Canberra.

3. Excerpts are not to be used for the purposes of satire or ridicule.

4. Excerpts shall not be used for the purposes of political party advertising or in election campaigns.

5. Fairness and accuracy and a general overall balance should be observed.

5(A). Excerpts of proceedings which are subsequently withdrawn shall be available for rebroadcast provided the withdrawal is also reported.

6. Excerpts must be placed in context. Commentators should identify Senators and Members at least by name.

7. Events in the Galleries are not part of the proceedings and excerpts in relation to such events, as far as is practicable, should not be used.

8. Qualified privilege only shall apply to broadcasters in the use of excerpts.

9. The instructions of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives or their delegated representatives on the use of recorded excerpts, shall be observed at all times.

10. Where the excerpts are used on commercial networks, the station should try to ensure that advertising before and after excerpts is of an appropriate nature.

11. Where the audio excerpts of proceedings are used on television, their use may be that of audio over still frames, or overlay material.

12. Access to proceedings for the purpose of recording excerpts shall be on the basis of undertaking to observe these guidelines.

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