Complaints Form

When complaining either of a breach of the Council's Statement of Principles or of the print media's Privacy Standards, complete this form and submit it to the Council by clicking the "Submit Complaint" button at the bottom of this page. Alternatively you can print off the pdf version of the form and post or fax it.

You must send to the Council the page/s on which the article/item complained of was published (or a readable copy of the page/s) and all correspondence sent to the publication in support of your complaint. If you cannot email them, send them by mail or fax to the Council.

Complaints can be made against a news report or commentary (including images and cartoons) in any commercial periodical published in Australia, but not against an advertisement or the non-journalistic operations of a publication.

Complaints must be lodged within sixty (60) days of initial publication.

See also the guide to completing the Complaint Form, including answers to some frequently asked questions.

A. Complainant Information

Name:

Address:

Phone:

Fax:

E-mail:

B. Publication Information

My complaint is against: (name of publication/s or URL of website)

Date/s of publication (where applicable):

You need to send the Council a copy of the article(s) or illustration(s) you are complaining about. (In the case of a photo, drawing or headline, we need a copy of the article it relates to, if any. In the case of a website, a hardcopy of the article or an html attachment to an email.) Please send the relevant material by post or email to the Council.

The headline or name of the item/s are:

C. Main Thrust of the Complaint

State, in 400 words or fewer, the main thrust of your complaint.

Do you have a direct association with the matters or persons referred to in the article and in the complaint? If not, what reason do you have to raise the complaint?

D. Contact with Publication

Have you contacted the publication(s) or website about the matter(s) listed above? If so, in what manner and when?

If not, why not?

What, if any, response have you had from the publication(s) or website?

E. Principles Breached

Looking at the Statement of Principles, or the print media's Privacy Standards, do you consider that any of the principles has been breached in this case? If so, write the number/s, indicating which principle, in this space.

If our principles do not cover your area of objection, briefly explain why you consider the Council should deal with the matter.

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