I refer to your letter of 3rd September, 1946, in which you request advice as to the interpretation of section 25 of the Australian Broadcasting Act 1942–1946.

Sub-section (1) of section 25 provides that the Commission shall broadcast daily from all national broadcasting stations regular sessions of news and information relating to current events within the Commonwealth and in other parts of the world.

Sub-section (2) goes on to enact that the Commission shall employ an adequate staff, both in the Commonwealth and overseas countries, for the purpose of collecting the news and information to be broadcast in pursuance of the section. By sub-section (3) the Commission may also procure news and information relating to current events in other parts of the world from such overseas news agencies and other overseas sources as it thinks fit.

In my view, the specific, and additional, power given by sub-section (3) of obtaining overseas news from overseas news agencies raises a clear implication that the collection of Australian news must be made directly by the Commission’s staff and not from Australian news agencies.

[Vol. 37, p. 304]