Australia’s top officials seek limits on social media clips from hearings

Australia’s most senior public servants are asking the Albanese government to restrict how footage from parliamentary hearings is shared online, arguing that edited clips can expose officials to ridicule, hostility and abuse. The proposal comes from the secretaries board, which brings together the heads of government departments and is chaired by Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Steven Kennedy. In a submission published Monday, the board said evidence given at hearings was part of the public record but argued that officials had not agreed to later uses of their images or testimony for party-political purposes. The board said material taken from hearings could be presented without sufficient context and might harm both individual officials and the public service. It recommended that full hearing footage and transcripts be made available instead of edited excerpts, with comments disabled on shared material. If those recommendations are not adopted, the board proposed rules barring the editing of videos or the addition of captions. It also called for restrictions on politicians sharing footage or commentary that targets individual officials for ridicule or harassment. The submission said the aim would be to keep public scrutiny focused on evidence, administration and accountability rather than personal attacks. It also called for clearer explanations of public servants’ roles and responsibilities for members of parliament, particularly newer MPs. The push followed comments by Celia Perkins, a deputy secretary in the defence department, at a parliamentary hearing the previous week. Perkins said public servants giving evidence had not consented to their testimony being reposted on social media or their likenesses being used outside the parliament’s public proceedings. The Senate foreign affairs, defence and trade committee rejected that request after receiving advice from the Senate clerk. Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May opposed the proposed restrictions. She said the public should be able to view footage from hearings examining government actions and argued that bureaucrats should not determine the limits of parliamentary scrutiny. Hodgins-May said respectful debate was important but maintained that limiting what parliamentarians could post from public proceedings would weaken transparency and accountability. The secretaries board’s proposals would affect footage from open parliamentary hearings, but the source report does not state that the government has accepted them.