How to make a Complaint
an overview

If you have a complaint against a newspaper or periodical or the news reporting on a website of a Council member, which appears to have breached the Council's Statement of Principles or the code of privacy standards, you should first take it up with the editor or other representative of the publication concerned.

If the complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may refer it to the Australian Press Council. A complaint must be specific, in writing, and accompanied by a cutting, hardcopy print, clear photostat or html attachment of the matter complained of, with supporting documents or evidence, if any. Complaints must be lodged within sixty days of the initial publication. The Council provides a complaint form for complainants to use.

The Council will not hear a complaint subject to legal action or possible legal action, unless the complainant is willing to sign a waiver of the right to such action.

On receipt of the complaint, the Council secretariat will first try to negotiate a settlement of the matter. Upto 40 per cent of complaints are settled amicably at this early stage of the process. An article by Deb Kirkman on the Council's mediation/conciliation procedures, first published by the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators, has been posted.

If such a settlement is not possible, and the complaint is accepted, a formal response from the newspaper will be sought and sent to the complainant. If not satisfied by the response, the complainant can, with the agreement of the newspaper, seek a conciliation hearing conducted by a Public Member of the Council or can immediately refer the matter to the Press Council for adjudication. The Deb Kirkman article from the the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators website also alludes to OPublic member conciliation.

If a matter is sent to the Council, the complainant and publication have the option of attending a meeting of the Complaints Committee which makes a recommendation to the Council on the matter. The Complaints Committee consists of seven members of the Council, with a majority of public members (including the Chairman). A guideline on attendance at such a meeting is available.

The recently revised and reprinted guidelines on the complaints procedures are detailed elsewhere, including information on the involvement of lawyers and appeals procedures. The procedures were rewritten to clarify shorter response t
and a few other matters, such as the Council's oversight of its members' news reporting websites and the acceptability of third party complaints.

The 2007-8 review of complaints dealt with by means other than adjudication is available.

Press Council Adjudications 1 - 1100 are available through the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) website. All subsequent adjudications are on this website.

Each year the Council publishes in its Annual Report, a table of statistics on the complaints received that year. The 2007-2008 statistics are now available.

Address inquiries and complaints to:

The Australian Press Council
Suite 10.02, 117 York Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Phone: (02) 9261 1930 or (1800) 02 5712
Fax: (02) 9267 6826

E-Mail (respectively):
info@presscouncil.org.au or
complaints@presscouncil.org.au.