Broadcasting of Senate and committee proceedings

1 Provision of broadcast

  1. The Senate authorises the broadcast and rebroadcast of proceedings and excerpts of proceedings of the Senate and of its committees in accordance with this order.
  2. The Senate authorises the provision of sound and vision coverage of proceedings of the Senate and its committees, including records of past proceedings, through the House Monitoring Service and through the Parliament of Australia website.
  3. Access to the House Monitoring Service sound and vision coverage of the proceedings of the Senate and its committees is provided to persons and organisations as determined by the President, on terms and conditions determined by the President which must not be inconsistent with this order.
  4. The President shall report to the Senate on persons and organisations in receipt of the service and on any terms and conditions determined under paragraph 1(3).
  5. Use of sound and vision coverage of proceedings of the Senate and its committees, including records of past proceedings, published on the Parliament of Australia website is subject to conditions of use determined by the President.

2 Broadcast of Senate proceedings – House Monitoring Service

Access to proceedings provided through the House Monitoring Service is subject to compliance with the following conditions:

  1. Only the following broadcast material shall be used:
    1. switched sound and vision feed of the Senate and its committees provided by the Parliament that is produced for broadcast, rebroadcast and archiving; and
    2. official broadcast material supplied by authorised parliamentary staff.
  2. Broadcast material shall be used only for the purposes of fair and accurate reports of proceedings, and shall not be used for:
    1. political party advertising or election campaigns; or
    2. commercial sponsorship or commercial advertising.
  3. Reports of proceedings shall be such as to provide a balanced presentation of differing views.
  4. Excerpts of proceedings which are subsequently withdrawn may be broadcast only if the withdrawal is also reported.
  5. The instructions of the President or his or her delegates, which are not inconsistent with these conditions or the rules applying to the broadcasting of committee proceedings, shall be observed.

3 Broadcast of committee proceedings

The following conditions apply to the broadcasting of committee proceedings:

  1. Recording and broadcasting of proceedings of a committee may occur only in accordance with the authorisation of the committee by a deliberate decision of the committee.
  2. A committee may authorise the broadcasting of only its public proceedings.
  3. Recording and broadcasting of a committee is not permitted during suspensions of proceedings, or following an adjournment of proceedings.
  4. A committee may determine conditions, not inconsistent with this order, for the recording and broadcasting of its proceedings, may order that any part of its proceedings not be recorded or broadcast, and may give instructions for the observance of conditions so determined and orders so made. A committee shall report to the Senate any wilful breach of such conditions, orders or instructions.
  5. Recording and broadcasting of proceedings of a committee shall not interfere with the conduct of those proceedings, shall not encroach into the committee's work area, or capture documents (either in hard copy or electronic form) in the possession of committee members, witnesses or committee staff.
  6. Broadcasts of proceedings of a committee, including excerpts of committee proceedings, shall be for the purpose only of making fair and accurate reports of those proceedings, and shall not be used for:
    1. political party advertising or election campaigns; or
    2. commercial sponsorship or commercial advertising.
  7. Where a committee intends to permit the broadcasting of its proceedings, a witness who is to appear in those proceedings shall be given reasonable opportunity, before appearing in the proceedings, to object to the broadcasting of the proceedings and to state the ground of the objection. The committee shall consider any such objection, having regard to the proper protection of the witness and the public interest in the proceedings, and if the committee decides to permit broadcasting of the proceedings notwithstanding the witness' objection, the witness shall be so informed before appearing in the proceedings.

4 Broadcast of proceedings of committees when considering estimates

The public proceedings of legislative and general purpose standing committees when considering estimates may be broadcast through the House Monitoring System and through the Parliament of Australia website in accordance with this order, and in accordance with any further conditions, not inconsistent with this order, determined by a committee in relation to the proceedings of that committee.

5 Radio broadcast of parliamentary proceedings by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – general principles

The Senate adopts the following general principles agreed to by the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings on 19 March 2013:

  1. Allocation of the broadcast between the Senate and the House of Representatives

    The proceedings of Parliament shall be broadcast live whenever a House is sitting. The allocation of broadcasts between the Senate and the House of Representatives will be in accordance with the standing determinations made by the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings. It is anticipated that over time, the coverage of each House will be approximately equal.

  2. Rebroadcast of questions and answers

    At the conclusion of the live broadcast of either House, questions without notice and answers thereto from the House not allocated the broadcast shall be rebroadcast.

  3. Unusual or exceptional circumstances

    Nothing in these general principles shall prevent the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings from departing from the principles in unusual or exceptional circumstances.

6 Television broadcast of question time by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

  1. The Senate authorises the television broadcast and rebroadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation of question time in the Senate.
  2. The distribution of television broadcasts between the two Houses shall be in accordance with the distribution of the radio broadcast, provided that the Senate is broadcast on not less than 3 days in any 2-week sitting period.

7 This order is of continuing effect.

(11 December 2013 J.336)

Note: New order in place of previous orders relating to the broadcasting of Senate and committee proceedings.