Coonan investigates Big Brother concerns

Senator Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts, has said she will be asking the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) to clarify public concerns about footage from the reality television program, Big Brother.

“I will be asking the Australian Broadcasting Authority to look at whether there may have been a breach of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice relating to certain footage shown on the Big Brother program," Senator Coonan said in a statement.

The Senator said that Network Ten had taken steps to comply with the code. She referred to two Big Brother programs that had been classified MA15+ which screened after 9pm in accordance with the code.

She added that she would continue to monitor the situation and act on the advice from the ABA.

Coonan said she would also ask the ABA to reassess the code's safeguards and compliance measures in regards to reality television programming.

The existing complaint procedure gave the broadcaster 60 days to respond to a complaint, after which the matter could be referred to the ABA.