Before ParliamentRights & Fairness Introduced in the Senate, 12 Feb 2019 by STEELE-JOHN, Sen Jordon

TV channels would need 14 hours of audio description

People who are blind or have low vision would get spoken descriptions of what is happening on screen. Each channel would give at least 14 hours a week, rising to 28. The bill was first brought in back in 2019 and is still waiting for a vote.

Official name: Broadcasting Services Amendment (Audio Description) Bill 2019

Who it affects

• People who are blind or have low vision: You would get audio description on a set number of hours of TV each week.
• Free TV networks that run ads: They would have to give the hours, keep records and report each year. They could ask to be let off if it would be far too hard on them.
• The ABC and the Special Broadcasting Service: The two national broadcasters would have the same minimum hours as other channels.
• Pay TV companies: They would also have to meet the same weekly minimum.

No law requires audio description

Audio description is a voice that explains what is happening on screen. It speaks in the natural gaps in the talking. It describes actions, scene changes, faces and other things you can only see.

Without it, people who are blind or have low vision miss key moments. One example is a fight scene that happens in silence.

TV channels in Australia have had to show captions for years. Captions are words on screen for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The bill's notes say no Australian law makes channels give audio description. They say the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and New Zealand do have such rules.

Senator Jordon Steele-John of the Greens brought this bill into the Senate on 12 February 2019. The Senate is the second house of Parliament. He is not a government minister, so the bill does not speak for the government.

Minimum weekly hours

The heart of the bill is a new rule in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. That is the main law for TV and radio. Each free TV network, national broadcaster and pay TV company must describe a minimum number of hours of shows a week.

For the first three years it is 14 hours a week. In the fourth year it goes up to 21 hours. In the fifth year it goes up to 28 hours.

Repeats do not count. A show that already went to air with audio description cannot be counted again toward the weekly hours.

Say a network shows a described drama on Monday and repeats it on Saturday. Only the Monday showing would count.

The rule would start on the first 1 July that falls at least 18 months after the law begins. This gives channels time to get ready.

Shows that are all in a language other than English do not need audio description. Nor does music with no words.

Exemptions and slip ups

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is the media and phone watchdog. A channel could ask it to be let off the rule. The watchdog could only agree if the rule would be far too hard on the channel.

Under the caption rules, channels can ask for their targets to be lowered. This bill does not allow that for audio description.

Some small technical slip-ups can be ignored. So a channel is not punished for a small glitch it could not control.

Anyone affected by a decision to let a channel off could ask a tribunal to look at it again. A tribunal is a body that checks government decisions, like a court but less formal.

Quality and reporting

The watchdog could set standards for how good audio description must be. This covers how easy it is to hear and understand, and how correct it is.

The watchdog must ask for views before setting or checking caption or audio description standards. It must talk to groups for people who are blind or have low vision. It must talk to groups for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It must also talk to the companies that make captions and descriptions.

Channels would have to keep records. They would send the watchdog a report each year on how they met the rules. The watchdog must put these reports out in forms that people with disability can read.

Industry rule books, called codes of practice, could also cover audio description. Viewers could complain to the ABC or the Special Broadcasting Service about it.

Reviews

The watchdog must check the new rules within two years of the law starting. It must ask people who use audio description how it is going, including any quality problems.

After that, the watchdog must check the rules again every five years, and ask the public for views. Each report goes to the communications minister, who must give it to Parliament.

Start date

The law would start the day after the Governor-General signs it. The Governor-General stands in for the King. The weekly hours rule would only kick in from the first 1 July at least 18 months later.

The bill went into the Senate on 12 February 2019. On the same day, he formally asked the Senate to vote on its main idea. It was dropped when Parliament ended in 2019, 2022 and 2025. Each time it was put back on the Senate's to-do list. The last time was 23 July 2025.

It has not been debated or voted on. The Senate would need to pass it, then the House of Representatives, the lower house, before it could become law.

It was written in 2019, so some names in it are out of date. For example, it names the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. That has since been replaced by the Administrative Review Tribunal.

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

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