Certain Government Inquiries to be Excused from Advertising Laws

On Friday, the NSW Government published a new regulation, the Government Advertising Amendment (Inquiries) Regulation 2013. The new Regulation exempts from requirements of the Government Advertising Act 2011, announcements or notices by or on behalf of a Royal Commission, a Special Commission of Inquiry or the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

The Government Advertising Act 2011 (the Act), the Government Advertising Regulation 2012 and the Government Advertising Guidelines commenced on 5 October 2012 and initiate measures concerning the latitude of Government advertising campaigns and for the authorisation of campaigns.

The Act prohibits party political material in Government advertising campaigns and Government advertising campaigns designed to benefit a political party.

The Act also requires that, for each Government advertising campaign, the head of the relevant government agency is to independently certify the campaign conforms with the Act, the Regulations and the Guidelines.

The new Regulation amends the Government Advertising Regulation 2012, inserting an exclusion provision to exempt Government inquiries from the prohibition on political advertising; however, they will still be subject to s 6(1) of the Act, the prohibition against designing a Government advertising campaign so as to influence, directly or indirectly, support of a political party.

Only NSW and the ACT have enacted specific Government advertising legislation, the latter having passed the Government Agencies (Campaign Advertising) Act 2009. The remaining States have guidelines on Government advertising advising that advertising should not be used for party political purposes.

• Victoria – The Victorian Government Advertising and Communications Guidelines are available via the Department of Premier and Cabinet website;

• Western Australia - The Government of Western Australia Guidelines for Government Advertising and Communications, April 2009 is available online;

• Queensland -  The Queensland Government Advertising Code of Conduct, August 2010 is available via the Queensland Government website;

• South Australia - The South Australian Government Advertising Policies and Guidelines, February 2010 is available on the Department of the Premier and Cabinet website;

• Tasmania – The Tasmanian Government publishes on their website a Government communications policy as well as a number of links to resources for further informaiton.

The NSW legislation is valuable for the same reason expressed in this 2011 ebrief, namely, the importance of effective regulation of government advertising to ensure public funds are not used for party political purposes.

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