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     Australia

This page looks at Australian bodies concerned with the management of the network.

It covers -

• the regime
• legislative frameworks
• agencies
• domain naming

It is supplemented by two detailed profiles: one on Australian telecommunications history, regulation and markets (including the ISP and ICH sectors) and a profile on the management of the 'dot-au' part of the domain name system (including an examination of domain name regulator auDA and the registrar and registry/reseller sectors).

     the regime

Telecommunications in Australia (including radiofrequency spectrum management) is a federal responsibility. The Constitution enshrines communications as a federal matter, although some state/territory legislation (eg on censorship and data protection) complicates any map of powers and responsibilities.

Broadly, responsibility for policy and legislation regarding the internet (along with telecommunications and broadcasting) rests with the Minister for Communications, Information Technology & the Arts (Helen Coonan as of 2004) - the portmanteau 'content & carriage' portfolio.

     legislative frameworks

Australia's legislative framework for the internet, like that of other nations, has developed incrementally and comprises a range of legislation covering

• creation, maintenance and protection of basic infrastructure
• the 'application layer', including electronic publishing
• commercial and administrative law (including evidence, privacy, defamation, consumer protection and other trade practices law) that covers online and offline activity

There thus no discrete 'lex informatica' that treats cyberspace as being entirely different to the offline world.

In Australia the primary 'network' legislation is the Telecommunications Act 1997, counterpart of the 1996 US legislation and similar enactments in several advanced economies. It is thinner than the taxation legislation (you can take it home in a briefcase rather than a wheelbarrow) but often as indigestible.

It is complemented by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Services Act 1992.  The Act was amended by the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999, essentially through requirements that Australian internet service providers and content hosts restrict access to offensive material - ''prohibited internet content". That content includes graphics, animation and text. 

The expectation is that Australian states/territories will develop complementary legislation (similar to that for film, literature and computer games) regarding publication and transmission of proscribed content. The Commonwealth Crimes Act prohibits use of any 'carriage service' - including the internet - in a way that any reasonable person would consider offensive. 

The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Digital Television & Datacasting) legislation privileges the commercial free-to-air television networks by imposing restrictions on 'datacasting' and, many believe, on delivery via the internet of audiovisual or multimedia content. 

The Commonwealth Radiocommunications Act 1992 and Telecommunications Act 1997 were initially administered by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) established by the Australian Communications Authority Act 1997 and merged with the Australian Broadcasting Authority in 2005 as the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA).

The broadcasting and telecommunications regime emphasises self-regulation or 'light touch' regulation, although as pointed out elsewhere in these guides some touches are lighter than others .... particularly if you own a free-to-air television network. 

A more detailed examination of the Australian content regulation regime is here, supplemented with background information on the shape of censorship in Australia and New Zealand since the 1780s

     agencies

The 'content & carriage' Minister's terrain includes the Department of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts (DCITA) and the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA). The latter results from 2005 merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the Australian Communications Authority (ACA).

DCITA formerly encompassed the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE), subsequently restructured with most responsibilitities devolving to the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) in the Department of Finance & Administration. NOIE was established as an independent entity to encourage the private sector's move online but with underwhelming results. That was reflected in debilitating turf wars, personnel changes (most notably the departure of CEO Paul Twomey, now chief executive of ICANN), ongoing transfer of functions from NOIE to other agencies and moves such as assimilation of the less glamorous Office of Government Online (OGO), concerned with getting the bureaucracy onto the internet.

The ABA had day to day responsibility for the media regime, dealing with the Broadcasting Services Act and thus with free-to-air television and radio (inc. digital broadcasting), pay television and internet service providers and hosts. The ACA (formerly Austel, the Australian Telecommunications Authority) was concerned with telecommunications, thus oversighting the operation of Telstra and its competitors.  

Amalgamation of the ABA and ACA as ACMA reflected the model is used in many other countries, with the US for example integrating ABA and ACA responsibilities within the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the UK using a single body.  Arguably that's a superior model in an era where we are concerned with carriage and content; ie where convergence is eroding traditional demarcations between different media. 

The Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department (A-G's), the Australian equivalent of the US Department of Justice, includes the Office of Film & Literature Classification (OFLC) - the former censors office - responsible for the 'R' and other ratings of proscribed content.

Competition - or perceptions of the lack of it (Telstra often being compared to the 800 kilo gorilla within a small cage) - is of increasing concern to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), the national competition watchdog.

     domain naming

The 1997 telecommunications legislation reflected a commitment to deregulate internet services within Australia, including for example the introduction of competition in domain name registration.

The au Domain Administration (auDA) is a non-government body open to those concerned with the internet industry (we for example are members).

It is discussed in more detail in a separate profile elsewhere on this site.





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