Governmental and ministerial content

The following guidelines and principles guide both ACT Government officers when publishing governmental and ministerial content, as well as members of the public or other organisations when re-publishing content.

The ACT Government develops content for ministers to support government programs and initiatives.

Guidelines for using our content

If you do use our content in part or in whole, make sure to link to the original page. This means users can track the information back to the source.

Unless otherwise specified, copyright of material contained on this website is owned by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Read more about copyright of ACT Government materials.

We ask anyone using our information under this license to consider how republishing our information may contribute to unclear ownership or confusing information which may be detrimental to the public’s understanding of government information.

The difference between political, ministerial and governmental content

The ACT Public Service’s role is to give high-quality, professional support free of political influence or bias to the government and its ministers. Public servants will distinguish between:

• digital content about a minister's electorate or political activities (political content)
• digital content about their role as a Minister in the government (ministerial content), and
• ‘ACT Government’ content, including policies, programs, services, events which will be of use to the public (governmental content).

Political content

Political content is content about the policies, actions and performance of members of the legislative assembly and political parties. This content should not appear on channels owned and managed by the ACT public service.

Ministerial content

Ministerial content is content about a minister’s portfolio responsibilities. This could include:

• forewords
• media releases
• ministerial statements
• videos.

Where the directorate develops these materials or are about the work of the directorate, it is considered government information. This information should be published on ACT Government websites, and not political or party websites. If the materials contain political comments, these will be removed before publishing to an ACT Government site.

Governmental content

Governmental content is content developed by agencies and directorates. All content published on ACT Government websites is governmental content and must be apolitical and in the public’s interest.

ACT Government public servants won’t publish:

• comparisons between political party policies
• achievements since elections or fulfilments of election promises
• minister statements that are not government statements.

Standards for ministerial and governmental content

Only publish content that is in the public interest

Part 2 section 9 of the Public Sector Management Act 1994, should be considered when publishing governmental or any other content. This section states that public sector officers must ensure they act with impartiality. This is also reflected in the ACTPS Code of Conduct.

Remain apolitical

For a directorate or agency website or social media account funded with taxpayer dollars, where there’s ministerial content, public servants must comply with the Public Sector Management ACT 1994 and ACTPS Code of Conduct.

Use the right branding

Apply ACT Government branding to your content, including social media tiles, and never use a slogan, image, logo or the branding (colours or design elements) associated with a political party in any content you create or publish.

What agency or directorate staff can publish

ACT Government content may include a:

• minister’s name
• minister’s portfolio
• title
• portrait photo
• link to the minister’s profile on the Legislative Assembly website.

ACT Government websites and social media will not link to a minister’s personal website or social media.

We may publish or share ministerial messages where it serves the public interest and is apolitical. This may include media releases that give information on government programs and initiatives.

Distinguish ministerial content from governmental content

Make sure that you distinguish between agency or directorate and ministerial websites. You can do this with visual branding.

Branding and logos used by agencies, directorates or the ACT Government should not be used on ministers’ personal or political party websites. Ministers’ websites and social media should not be hosted or maintained by agencies and should use a different domain name.

Approval for publishing content

Contact your directorate or agency’s strategic communications team to find out who approves ministerial-related content for digital assets.

References

This statement has been adapted from Victorian Government’s ministerial content pages.