Australian Capital Television v Commonwealth (1992) 177 CLR 106 was a significant court case decided in the High Court of Australia on 30 September 1992. It concerned the constitutional validity of Part IIID of the Broadcasting Act 1942, which regulated political advertising during election campaigns, and required broadcasters to broadcast political advertisements free of charge at other times. The High Court found the laws to be invalid, since t...
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Australian Capital Television v Commonwealth (1992) 177 CLR 106 was a significant court case decided in the High Court of Australia on 30 September 1992. It concerned the constitutional validity of Part IIID of the Broadcasting Act 1942, which regulated political advertising during election campaigns, and required broadcasters to broadcast political advertisements free of charge at other times. The High Court found the laws to be invalid, since they contravened an implied right to freedom of political communication (note there is no guarantee of freedom of speech) in the Australian Constitution.
In 1991, the Government of Australia ("the Commonwealth") under Prime Minister Bob Hawke passed the Political Broadcasts and Political Disclosures Act 1991, which inserted part IIID into the Broadcasting Act 1942. The changes had a number of effects, the most important of which prohibited the broadcasting of politically related material on electronic media such as radio and television during...
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