ACA breaches Code for identifying child

A story on a ‘Centrelink Shame File’ aired by A Current Affair last August has been found to have breached the Code of Practice because it identified a child.

The story counted down the ‘top six welfare rorts’ based on the number of cases the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has prosecuted for Centrelink fraud.

But the media watchdog found Nine slipped up because it failed to obtain the consent of a parent or guardian before visually identifying a child in a report on a criminal matter involving their mother.

ACMA found that the Centrelink fraud was in the public interest issue but says ACA made no attempt to hide the child’s identity. It also ruled that there was no public interest reason to disclose the identity of one man, living with the mother because no allegation was made that the man had defrauded Centrelink or assisted the mother in her alleged defrauding.

ACMA did not indicate any punishment for the Breach.