Reception of complaints - Australian Press Council

This page outlines the Council’s procedures following receipt of a complaint. The subsequent procedures for informal consideration of complaints (known as Level 1) are outlined here and the procedures which apply if they are subsequently referred to an Adjudication Panel (known as Level 2) are outlined here.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT

After receiving the complaint, a member of the Council’s complaints-handling staff obtains any further details which he or she considers necessary at this stage. The Executive Director then decides whether the complaint should not be considered further because:

it does not meet the requirements about what can be complained about, or who can make a complaint, or when and how a complaint should be made (see Making a Complaint); or

it is more appropriate for consideration by some other process (such as the Council considering whether to issue or amend a relevant Standard of Practice; or referring the complaint for consideration by another organisation); or

Council has facilitated a form of redress and/or the publication has sufficiently remedied the matter.

even if the facts alleged in the complaint are correct, it is unlikely that a breach of the Council's Standards of Practice has occurred; or

the extent to which consideration of the complaint might require the commitment of greater resources by the Council, the publication or the complainant than is reasonably proportionate to the significance of the likely breaches; or

for some other reason, the complaint is in appropriate for further consideration by the Council.

In some circumstances, the Executive Director may ask the complainant to raise the matter directly with the publication.

“Secondary complaints”

Where the complainant is not personally identified or directly affected by the published material, the complaint may be considered as a “secondary complaint”. In this situation, the Executive Director also takes into account the following considerations, in addition to those mentioned in the previous paragraph, when deciding whether the matter should be considered further:

the risk of aggravating any possible invasion of privacy or other harm caused to people or organisations which are directly affected by the material; or

the extent to which informing the complainant, the media industry and the general public whether a particular type of breach has occurred may provide an important example of the application of the Council’s Standards, even if people or organisations directly affected by it do not wish to make or endorse a complaint themselves or they cannot be contacted; or

the extent to which consideration of the complaint might require the commitment of greater resources by the Council, the publication or the complainant than is reasonably proportionate to the significance of the possible breaches; or

the extent to which the matter requires the primary person’s input and/or participation.

Multiple complaints

Where there are several separate complaints about the same material, the Executive Director may decide to involve only one or some of the complainants in further consideration of the material. Where practicable, complainants will be notified individually of that decision and of the final outcome. Otherwise, the outcome of matters involving a significant number of complainants will be published on the Council’s website.

NOTIFICATION OF COMPLAINT TO PUBLICATION

Unless the Executive Director decides to discontinue consideration of the complaint, the publication will be promptly notified of the complaint by telephone call and, where appropriate, a confirmatory note will be sent to the publication.

The phone call and confirmatory note will focus on whether the publication has already taken action in relation to a direct complaint about the material in question or may be willing to consider doing so in relation to the complaint received by the Council.

REFERRAL TO LEVEL 1 OR DISCONTINUANCE

Unless the complaint has been discontinued or resolved as a result of these initial processes, it will be referred by the Executive Director to Level 1 for further consideration by the Council staff.

If the Executive Director decides to discontinue consideration, the complainant will be informed accordingly and may seek review of that decision, provided the request is received within seven days of being notified. For further information, see Review of Decisions. The discontinuance will not be reversed on review unless the grounds for doing so are very strong.

If a review is not sought, or is unsuccessful, the publication will then be notified of the discontinuance.