Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd v Commonwealth

Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd v Commonwealth was a 1992 decision of the High Court of Australia striking down federal legislation that restricted paid political advertising on radio and television during election periods. The Court held that the Constitution's system of representative and responsible government necessarily implies a freedom of political communication, even though no such right is expressly stated in the constitutional text. Decided the same year as the related case Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Wills, it is regarded as one of the two founding cases establishing the implied freedom of political communication in Australian constitutional law.