Kyle & Jackie O Show drew nearly half of all decency complaints on Australian radio in last financial year
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Exclusive: Kiis FM show promises to ‘behave’ in 2025 as regulator reveals 146 complaints made to broadcaster about material in 2023-24. Almost half of all complaints made in the last financial year about decency standards on Australian radio were about The Kyle & Jackie O Show, the Guardian can reveal.
![[Sarah Hanson-Young challenges head of Acma to read comments from Kyle and Jackie O show – video]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/82b3392446e8aa4e9b1f8f1c3a49eb24ad535e3a/266_58_1492_839/1492.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
In the 2023-2024 financial year, 321 complaints were made to radio stations across Australia about “material not suitable for broadcast”. Of these, 146 complaints (45%) were about The Kyle & Jackie O Show. Listeners who wish to complain about material broadcast on radio are required to first complain to the radio station. If complainants are not satisfied with the station’s response, they can then make a complaint to Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma), which has the power to investigate and sanction a show.
The numbers, shared with Guardian Australia, came in response to questions on notice from Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young to Nerida O’Loughlin, the chair of the Acma. The questions followed Hanson-Young quizzing O’Loughlin at a Senate estimates hearing in November, blasting the media regulator for failing to investigate “revolting” material aired on the show, including “sexist, racist [and] misogynistic” content.
Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter. During the hearing, O’Loughlin declined to read aloud quotes from the radio show provided by Hanson-Young, declaring she “would not think they were appropriate for parliamentary language”.
