This circular announces changes to whole of government advertising policy relating to:

• important public information and statutory notices
• the government's composite recruitment advertisement, which appears in the metropolitan press each Saturday
• the introduction of a government authorisation statement for all television and radio campaign advertisements.

The effectiveness of government advertising is continuously monitored and reviewed to ensure best value for money, improved community access for public information and to ensure best practise approaches to advertising. As a result there have been a number of changes in government advertising policy in recent years which have resulted in significant benefits to government agencies and the public.

The further changes outlined below will continue to implement these principles.

New South Wales Government Noticeboard for Important Public Information and Statutory Notices
From 2 August 2006 all important public information and statutory notices will be included in a single government advertisement. This advertisement will appear each Wednesday in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph at the front of the classified section.

Important Public Information and Statutory Notices will be placed under the masthead New South Wales Government Noticeboard, similar to the Government's Tenders advertisement, which appears each Monday.

All display advertisements, which previously appeared in the early general news sections of the papers, or in the classified section as a display advertisement or a lineage advertisement will now be included in the NSW Government Noticeboard advertisement.
 
Publication timeframes: In order to meet publishing deadlines for inclusion in the weekly Government's Noticeboard advertisement, agencies must provide Communications and Advertising, Department of Commerce, with all copy by 4.00 pm on the Tuesday of the week before the advertisement is to appear i.e. six (6) working days before publication. Material received after the deadline will be published in the next Noticeboard advertisement the following week.

Content requirements: Individual advertisements must only include concise essential information with details of where more comprehensive information is available, for example website or phone contact number. This principle also applies to advertisements that are placed as a legislative requirement.

Although some statutes have a mandatory requirement to advertise certain matters, in many instances advertising is a discretionary decision taken within agencies. The necessity to continue current convention or practice regarding the placement of an advertisement should be reviewed by all agencies with a view to reducing the number and size of advertisements regularly placed by the government.

Exemptions: There are no general exemptions to this new policy requirement
Any request for a case-specific exemption must be made by the agency's Chief Executive Officer or delegate in writing to the General Manager, Operations, Communications and Advertising, Department of Commerce. Each request will be assessed on the basis of achieving the government's goal to improve overall access to government information and the communication or commercial imperatives of the message of the agency concerned.

Advertisements currently placed in suburban, regional, country and community language press should continue, however, agencies should reassess the community benefits of placing the advertisement and also confine the content to the minimum required.

New South Wales Government Saturday Recruitment Composite Advertisement
As another step to improve access to details of job vacancies in the public sector, the Government composite recruitment advertisement containing all vacant positions will now appear in both the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph, each Saturday.

Authorisation of all Government Advertising on Television and Radio
Effective immediately, all government campaign advertisements produced by agencies for television and radio are to end with the following authorisation statement:

"Authorised by the New South Wales Government, Sydney."

Television advertisements are to have a final image of the statement in white type on black background, with a voiceover of the statement. The names of all people who speak in the advertisement are to be included ie "spoken by….." in the final image but not the voice over.

Radio advertisements are to conclude with the authorisation statement
Press advertisements are to include the State Coat of Arms and one of the following statements (whichever is appropriate):

"New South Wales Government"

"An initiative of the New South Wales Government"

"A message from the New South Wales Government"

Communication and Advertising, Department of Commerce, has the responsibility of monitoring all government advertising to ensure compliance with these policy requirements and should be consulted on any issue relating to the authorisation of advertisements or the branding of communication material generally. These enquiries should be directed to Bob Gallagher, General Manager Operations, Communications and Advertising, Department of Commerce, phone 02 93727401 or [email protected]

C Gellatly
Director-General

Issued : Public Emplyment Office
Contact: Judith Withers,
EMail: [email protected]
Telephone no: 9228 5514 Facsimile: 9228 5087
File no: PSM/02289
Date: 6 July 2006
This circular has not superseded any other Circular