PM&C Forum Guidelines
Thank you for your participation in the Department's online discussion forums. Please take note of the Moderation Policy and Protocols for Participation as outlined below.
How to register
Users who wish to comment on the Department's online discussion forums will need to register.
Your registration information is not for publication and will not be stored with the record of the online discussion forum. By registering and contributing to the online discussion forum, you give permission for your comments to be posted on the site.
In order to facilitate discussion registered users will be asked to provide a unique username to serve as their identifier during discussion.
Please note, usernames will be limited to 20 characters and if they contain content which breach the Protocols for Participation, they will be rejected. Please choose your username carefully as this name will appear on the forum website with any of your published forum postings. You cannot change your username once you have registered.
Contributing to the discussion
Once you have registered and received your password, you are able to go to any of the active online discussion forums and post a comment.
Comments are limited to 2000 characters (approximately 350 words or less). You may submit multiple comments if required.
Forum will be open for comment in accordance with the start date and times provided for each event.
All comments will be subject to moderation. The purpose of moderation is to ensure that the discussion does not include offensive or discriminatory language and to keep the discussion on topic. Moderators will check all comments against the approved guidelines for forum participation.
For more details, please see our Moderation Policy and Protocols for Participation outlined below.
Moderation Policy
We welcome your participation in the online discussion forums. To ensure your contribution meets legal requirements and the discussion stays on track, all comments posted to the online discussion forum will be moderated according to the Protocols for Participation set out below.
Comments that do not comply with these protocols will not be published and contributors will receive a message detailing why their comment has not been published and inviting them to resubmit their comments in a manner that complies with the protocols. Moderators will not edit comments. Contributions will only be moderated in accordance with the protocols.
While comments can be submitted at any time during a forum event, moderation and publication of comments will take place from 9.00am to 5.00pm (AEST) only during the event days. We undertake to moderate all posts within 24 hours of receipt.
Protocols for Participation
The intent of the Protocols for Participation is to create a positive environment where people are able to publicly contribute their views to the online discussion forums, in the spirit of having input to government policy, without fear of abuse or harassment or exposure to offensive or otherwise inappropriate content and protecting the operators of the forums from legal liability.
Discussion on the PM&C's online discussion forums is like a physical meeting, so normal social conventions apply. Help us to keep the conversation on topic, by being polite, constructive and respectful of others.
By registering and contributing to the online discussion forum, you give permission for your comments to be posted on the site, and for organisers to contact and invite you if other online discussion forums are held on the website.
When contributing your views to this online discussion forum, please ensure that you:
- do protect your personal privacy and that of others by not including personal information of either yourself or of others in your posts to the forum, (such as names, email addresses, private addresses or phone numbers);
- do post material to the forum that is relevant to the issues currently being consulted on;
- do represent your own views and not impersonate or falsely represent any other person;
- do not abuse, harass or threaten others;
- do not make defamatory or libellous comments;
- do not use insulting, provocative or hateful language;
- do not use obscene or offensive language;
- do not post material to the forum that infringes the intellectual property rights of others;
- do not post multiple versions of the same view to the forum;
- do not promote commercial interests in your posts to the forum;
- do not include internet addresses, videos, images or links to websites, or any email addresses, in your contribution;
- do not post overtly party political comment (e.g. reference to candidates, fundraisers, support for political parties); and
- do not include confidential information.