Explanatory Statement
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications
Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946
Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Regulations 2026
Authority
The Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946 (the Act) provides the statutory requirements for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC) to broadcast and record the proceedings of the Australian Parliament.
Section 17 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which, by the Act, are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Subsection 4(1) of the Act requires the ABC to broadcast Parliamentary proceedings from a medium wave (AM) radio station in each State capital city, in Newcastle and from other national broadcasting stations as prescribed.
The Act establishes the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings (the Committee), which consists of nine members of Parliament, who determine the days and periods on which proceedings of the Senate, the House of Representatives and a joint sitting shall be broadcast.
Purpose
The purpose of the new Regulations is to safeguard continued free access through analogue radio broadcasts of parliamentary proceedings in the ACT.
The Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Regulation 2016 (the 2016 Regulation) is due to sunset on 1 October 2026. Under Part 4 of Chapter 3 to the Legislation Act 2003 (the Legislation Act), most legislative instruments sunset (that is, they are automatically repealed) on 1 April or 1 October, whichever first occurs, 10 years after they are registered.
The 2016 Regulation prescribes the national broadcasting station in the Australian Capital Territory known as 2PB for the purpose of paragraph 4(1)(b) of the Act. ‘2PB’ is the call sign for the Canberra NewsRadio services. The effect of this is to require the ABC to broadcast proceedings of the Senate, the House of Representatives or a Joint Sitting from the prescribed station upon such days and during such periods as the Committee determines.
Summary
The Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Regulations 2026 (the new Regulations) will remake the 2016 Regulation.
The new Regulations commence on the day after the instrument is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Details of the instrument are set out in Attachment A.
Consultation
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (the department) undertook targeted consultation with the ABC, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the Department of Parliamentary Services and the Committee in relation to the proposed Regulations. The consultation sought feedback on an option to remake the 2016 Regulation without changes, a second option to remake the 2016 Regulation with changes, and a third option to allow the 2016 Regulation to sunset.
The consulted parties were supportive of the proposal to remake the 2016 Regulation with no changes, stating that the 2016 Regulation is still useful for ensuring parliamentary proceedings are publicly accessible in a reliable and equitable way, and the instrument needs to be remade before the 2016 Regulation sunsets on 1 October 2026.
No detailed impact analysis was required for the replacement instrument (reference number OIA25-10702).
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
A statement of compatibility with human rights for the purposes of Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 is set out at Attachment B.
Attachment A
Details of the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Regulations 2026
Part 1—Preliminary
Section 1 – Name
Section 1 provides that the title of the instrument is the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Regulations 2026.
Section 2 – Commencement
Section 2 provides for the whole of the instrument to commence on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Section 3– Authority
Section 3 provides that the instrument is made under the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946.
Section 4 – Schedules
Section 4 provides that each instrument specified in the Schedule is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable item in the Schedule concerned, and that any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.
Section 5 – Prescribed national broadcasting station
Section 5 prescribes national broadcasting station 2PB for the purposes of paragraph 4(1)(b) of the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946, in the Australian Capital Territory. ‘2PB’ is the call sign for the Canberra NewsRadio services. The effect of this is to require the ABC to broadcast proceedings of the Senate, the House of Representatives or a Joint Sitting from the prescribed station upon such days and during such periods as the Committee determines.
Schedule 1 – Repeals
Clause 1: The whole of the instrument
This clause will repeal the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Regulation 2016, which is due to sunset on 1 October 2026.
Attachment B
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Regulations 2026
This legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the legislative instrument
The purpose of the new Regulations is to continue to provide access to Parliamentary proceedings in the ACT through radio broadcasts.
This instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. This is because the instrument does not negatively engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms, and does not raise any human rights issues.
The new Regulations will continue:
- to facilitate participation of listeners in the ACT to engage in Australia’s cultural life in accordance with Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
- to promote freedom of expression in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by ensuring that listeners in the ACT can seek and receive information and ideas of a political nature;
- to promote participation in the conduct of public affairs in accordance with Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
by ensuring that listeners who rely on broadcast radio in the ACT can continue to access Parliamentary proceedings through radio broadcasts and, therefore, can seek and receive information about political and cultural issues.