The Australian Broadcasting Authority is the regulator of radio and television in Australia. It can hear complaints against the ABC and the SBS, as well as against commercial and community broadcasters. Its members are appointed by the government. The Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority is the well known monarchist, Professor David Flint. Under the system established by the government, complaints must first be made to the broadcaster concerned. If the complainant is not satisfied with the response they may complain to the Broadcasting Authority. Given the noise that Senator Alston has been making about the need for external review of the ABC it is interesting to see how many complaints against the ABC have been upheld by the Broadcasting Authority.

The report for the period October - December 2002 is published in the July edition of ABA Update. There were three complaints made against the ABC:

• New Dimensions, ABC TV.  Complaint alleged that the program contained false information, namely that genetically modified foods were labelled.
• Lateline, ABC TV.  That the program contained inaccurate fact, namely the number of people marching the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2000.
• News bulletin, Radio National. That the report of Palestinian conflict omitted key facts and consequently was inaccurate, racist and anti-Semitic.

The ABA dismissed all three complaints.  No breaches of the code of practice were found.

In the period July 2002 to June 2003, according to the Broadcasting Authority's website, 3 complaints have been upheld against community television stations, 17 complaints have been upheld against commercial stations and one complaint has been upheld against the SBS. During this period no complaints have been upheld against ABC TV.