The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is the primary regulator for Australia's media and communications sectors, though the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is responsible for the economic regulation of these sectors and has shared responsibility for consumer protection.

The then Minister for Communications, and now Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, announced on 12 June 2015 that the Department of Communications and the Arts would undertake a review of ACMA, examining the performance of ACMA in achieving good regulatory outcomes in the media and communications sectors.

The Department released an Issues Paper on 13 July 2015 and consulted with stakeholders in relation to that Issues Paper. A draft report was subsequently issued on 6 May 2016 for a 5 week consultation period. The final report, and the Government's response to that report, were released on 22 May 2017. The review concluded that, overall, ACMA had generally performed its regulatory role well however recommended that reform was necessary to enable ACMA to respond effectively to future challenges. The Government supported the recommendations of the review (though 2 of those recommendations were only supported in principle). Key recommendations included:

  • The commission model of decision-making be retained, with all members of the Authority to be appointed on a full time basis (noting the Government supports 5 full time members but proposes flexibility to appoint other part time members). The Chair will be the "Accountable Authority" under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, with power to delegate certain functions to a CEO. The Deputy Chair will perform the role of CEO, with primary carriage of day-to-day management and operational issues.
  • The Minister should provide ACMA with an annual Statement of Expectations, which ACMA should respond to with a Statement of Intent setting out how it will deliver on the Government's expectations. A similar arrangement would apply for the ACCC, in respect of its functions in the media and communications sectors.
  • ACMA's remit should cover all layers of the communications market, namely, infrastructure, transport, devices, content and applications.
  • Some adjustments should be made to ACMA's functions, including moving cybersecurity programs to the Attorney-General's Department, considering whether revenue collection by ACMA could more efficiently be undertaken by another body such as the Australian Taxation Office, considering whether industry is able to "step up" to undertake self-regulation in certain areas, such as technical standards, and exploring ACMA taking on the functions of the Classification Board and the Classification Review Board scheme. It was also recommended that the current institutional arrangements for economic regulation and consumer protection be retained.
  • ACMA is to be more transparent and timely with regard to decision making by, for example, publishing information to allow stakeholders to have a clear understanding of the relationship between its actions and its compliance and enforcement policy.
  • The Government should undertake a coordinated program of regulatory reform to establish a "contemporary communications regulatory framework".

The last recommendation is of course of great interest. The Government has taken some recent steps to progress reforms in the media and communications sector, with the announcement of its media reform package in early May 2017 (see here) and the release of draft legislation and consultation papers for the reform of radiocommunications regulation in mid May 2017 (see here). But there remains much work to be done for Australia to move to a contemporary communications regulatory framework.

This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.