Codes of Practice Appendix 1: Codes of Practice Checklist
This appendix is for guidance only and does not form part of the Community Radio Codes of Practice 2008.
The following checklist will help determine if your station has developed the appropriate policies and procedures to make sure it is complying with the requirements of the Codes. 
You can download it here.pdf.
Please note that it is note part of the Codes themselves.
Section One: Corporate Governance
Corporate governance policies and procedures that support management, financial, and technical operations to meet all legal requirements.
| Governance: Does Your Station... | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| have easily-accessible hard and electronic copies of its constitution? | ||
| hold regular board and committee meetings? | ||
| keep minutes of these meetings and hold them in an accessible place? | ||
| hold Annual General Meetings which include election of board and committee members in accordance with your constitution and requirements of relevant legislation (eg: Incorporated Associations Act)? | ||
| have documents that outline the roles and responsibilities of board and committee members? |
| Financial Management: Does Your Station... | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| maintain accurate and up to date financial records? | ||
| have a designated treasurer or book keeper? | ||
| regularly present records of its accounts to the board? | ||
| present end of financial year reports to the members? |
| Technical Management: Does Your Station... | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| have easily-accessible hard and electronic copies of its broadcasting services licence and apparatus licence specifications? | ||
| have mechanisms in place for ensuring ongoing compliance with its licence specifications? | ||
| have mechanisms in place for ensuring ongoing compliance with EMR / RF hazard standards? | ||
| ensure appropriate safety and quality of studio and production facilities? |
Section Two: Policies and Proceedures
| Does your station have clear procedures for boards, committees, staff and volunteers dealing with the following: | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Programming | ||
| Access and equity | ||
| Anti-discrimination | ||
| Grievance and complaints | ||
| Music - Australian content | ||
| Sponsorship |
| How does your station management publicise/promote these policies and procedures? | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Newsletters | ||
| Noticeboards | ||
| Station Handbooks | ||
| Induction or training sessions | ||
| Other |
Section Three: Participation
Under the Codes community radio stations are required to ensure that people in their community who are not adequately served by other media are encouraged and assisted to participate in providing our service.
Stations are required to have in place policies and procedures to support this commitment as well as to document evidence of their efforts to encourage community participation.
How does your station encourage and assist the active participation of community members (including broadcasters at your station and members of the community) in:
| Activity | Action taken to encourage participation | Evidence documented of this activity |
|---|---|---|
| On-air shifts | ||
| Fundraising | ||
| Administration | ||
| Board Of Directors | ||
| Committees | ||
| Programming Decisions | ||
| Other | ||
| Other | ||
| Other |
Section Four: Programming
| Does Your Station: | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| monitor its Australian music content to ensure it meets the minimum quota? | ||
| management approve and monitor all sponsorship on air (this includes in-kind sponsorship)? |
| Does your station have a set of programming guidelines for broadcasters relating to on-air standards concerning broadcasts about or including: | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Violence and brutality | ||
| Simulated news or events | ||
| Drug, alcohol and tobacco use | ||
| Stereotyping and vilification | ||
| Protecting children from ‘harmful’ content | ||
| Privacy | ||
| News and Current Affairs | ||
| Indigenous programming | ||
| Australian music content | ||
| Sponsorship | ||
| Balancing censorship and freedom of expression |
Section Five: Volunteers
| Does your station have written policy documents in place that outline: | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| the principles of financial membership, | ||
| the rights and responsibilities of financial members within the organisation, | ||
| the rights and responsibilities of the organisation to financial members. |
| How does your station inform volunteers of their rights and responsibilities? | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Noticeboard | ||
| Newsletters | ||
| Meetings | ||
| Volunteer Induction Kit | ||
| Website | ||
| Other |
| Does your station... | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| have induction procedures for all new volunteers? | ||
| have a complaints procedure for volunteers/staff concerning internal disputes? | ||
| inform volunteers about the station’s internal complaints procedure? | ||
| have a policy and procedure in place regarding disciplinary action and dismissal of volunteers |
Section Six: Listener Complaints
| Does your station... | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| have a procedure for recording and dealing with listener complaints? |
| Does this procedure... | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| ensure there is a designated, responsible person who has been nominated to deal with listener complaints and who is available during office hours? | ||
| include providing information to listeners about their rights if they are dissatisfied with your station’s response to their complaint? | ||
| ensure your station will respond substantively to complaints, in writing, within 60 days of receiving the complaint? |
| How does your station inform volunteers and staff of the procedure for taking a complaint from a listener? | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Newsletters | ||
| Noticeboard | ||
| Meetings | ||
| Volunteer Induction Kit |
Other
| Does your station... | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| broadcast at least one on-air announcement each week that contains information about the Codes and where listeners can get a copy |
What to do if you find your station is not meeting the requirements of the Codes:
- If your station does not have a policy or procedure which has been mentioned in the checklist, please look through the further appendices with the Codes for examples. We suggest you change these to suit your needs before adoption by the Board.
- You can also contact us on 02 9310 2999 or via email for more information on developing policies and procedures.
- After the Board of Directors has collected all the policies and procedures and approved them, it is advisable that they should be widely circulated within the station.
- It is also important to develop ways in which these policies will continue to be publicised efficiently to new broadcasters and others. This could be done at program evaluation time, station meetings, in training sessions, as reminders in newsletters and any other way you can think of getting the message across.