Australian Broadcasting Tribunal
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 July 2005 |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Jurisdiction | Commonwealth of Australia |
| Employees | 445 |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executives |
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| Website | acma.gov.au |
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian Government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. The ACMA is tasked with ensuring media and communications works for all Australians. It does this through various legislation, regulations, standards and codes of practice.
The ACMA is a 'converged' regulator, created to oversee the convergence of the four 'worlds' of telecommunications, broadcasting, radio communications and the internet. The ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 by a merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Australian Communications Authority. It is one of only a handful of converged communications regulators in the world.
The ACMA is an independent agency with the Authority composed of the Chairman, Deputy Chair and two part-time Members. The ACMA is managed by an executive team comprising the Chairman (who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the agency), the Deputy Chair, four general managers and nine executive managers. The corporate structure comprises four divisions - Communications Infrastructure, Content, Consumer and Citizen, Corporate and Research, and Legal Services.
The ACMA has responsibilities under four principal Acts - the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, the Telecommunications Act 1997, the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 and the Radiocommunications Act 1992. There are another 22 Acts to which the agency responds in such areas as spam, the Do Not Call Register and interactive gambling. The ACMA also creates and administers more than 523 legislative instruments including radiocommunications, spam and telecommunications regulations; and licence area plans for free-to-air broadcasters.
The ACMA collects revenue on behalf of the Australian Government through broadcasting, radiocommunications and telecommunications taxes, charges and licence fees. It also collects revenue from price-based allocation of spectrum.
The ACMA's main offices are located in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.
Communications convergence is the merging of the previously distinct services by which information is communicated - telephone, television (free-to-air and subscription) radio and newspapers - over digital platforms. The ACMA also works with industry and citizens to solve new concerns and mitigate risks arising in the evolving networked society and information economy, recognising that Australians are interacting with digital communications and content in changing ways. Not only does the ACMA address a wide and disparate range of responsibilities, it does so against a backdrop of rapid and disruptive change.
Many of the controls on the production and distribution of content and the provision of telecommunications services through licensing or other subsidiary arrangements, or by standards and codes (whether co-regulatory or self-regulatory) are subject to revision and adaptation to the networked society and information economy. Moreover, there are new platforms, applications, business models, value chains and forms of social interaction available with more to come in what is a dynamic, innovative environment. Other challenges for regulators include cross-jurisdictional issues and the need for engagement and collaboration with stakeholders locally, regionally and internationally. The ACMA's response to these pressures is to remain constantly relevant by delivering on its mandated outcomes and its statutory obligations, and by transforming itself into a resilient, e-facing, learning organisation, responsive to the numerous pressures for change that confront it.
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