Appendix 2 - Resolution on the Broadcasting of Senate and Committee Proceedings passed
by the Senate on 11 December 2013[1]
Broadcasting of Senate and Committee Proceedings
That, in place of the orders relating to the broadcasting of
Senate and committee proceedings, the Senate adopts the following:
1 Provision of broadcast
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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:
- Only the following
broadcast material shall be used:
- switched
sound and vision feed of the Senate and its committees provided by the
Parliament that is produced for broadcast, rebroadcast and archiving; and
- official
broadcast material supplied by authorised parliamentary staff.
- Broadcast material
shall be used only for the purposes of fair and accurate reports of
proceedings, and shall not be used for:
- political party
advertising or election campaigns; or
- commercial sponsorship
or commercial advertising.
- Reports
of proceedings shall be such as to provide a balanced presentation of differing
views.
- Excerpts
of proceedings which are subsequently withdrawn may be broadcast only if the
withdrawal is also reported.
- 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:
- 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.
- A
committee may authorise the broadcasting of only its public proceedings.
- Recording
and broadcasting of a committee is not permitted during suspensions of
proceedings, or following an adjournment of proceedings.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- political party
advertising or election campaigns; or
- commercial sponsorship
or commercial advertising.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- The
Senate authorises the television broadcast and rebroadcast by the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation of question time in the Senate.
- 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.
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