Legislative Instruments Act 2003

Section 26 – Explanatory Statement

Variation to Licence Area Plan for Moree Radio – No. 1 of 2010 made under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992

In accordance with the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005, since 1 July 2005 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has exercised powers and functions under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA) previously exercised by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA).

On 31/03/2010, the ACMA made a variation to the licence area plan (LAP) for Moree Radio. The variation was made under section 26(2) of the BSA and is referred to in this explanatory statement as “the instrument”.

The LAP and variations

The ACMA prepares LAPs under subsection 26(1) of the BSA. LAPs determine the number and characteristics, including technical specifications, of broadcasting services that are to be available in particular areas of Australia with the use of the broadcasting services bands.

The ACMA may, by legislative instrument, vary LAPs under subsection 26(2) of the BSA.

The ABA made the Licence Area Plan for Moree Radio on 9 July 1998. It is referred to in this explanatory statement as “the Moree LAP”.

Intended impact and effect

In relation to broadcasting services, the instrument varies the characteristics, including technical specifications, of broadcasting services in the Moree area by:

• making the FM frequency 101.5 MHz available to the communities of Narrabri, Moree and Gunnedah in the upper Namoi region for the ABC to provide a Parliamentary News Network radio service to the upper Namoi region.

The instrument also deletes and inserts information, included for reference only, that does not form part of the LAP and which may create confusion. It also makes some minor amendments to improve drafting. The instrument also updates each of the licence area definitions so that they are defined in terms of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) 2006 census data.

The intended effect of this variation is to clarify the number and characteristics, including technical specifications, of radio broadcasting services in the Moree area. The ACMA does not intend the variation to alter any existing rights and obligations, except as set out above.

Regulatory impact analysis

The ACMA has considered whether a regulatory impact statement is required and formed the view that the recommendations in the instrument gives rise to a low impact regulatory obligation. Therefore, the regulatory impact analysis process has not been applied.

Consultation and submissions

Before varying the Moree LAP, the ACMA undertook the following consultation:

On 11 November 2009, the ACMA published the following papers on its web site:

• a draft of the instrument;
• a draft variation to the frequency allotment plan (FAP);
• an explanatory paper about the changes proposed in the draft instrument, inviting public comment by 11 December 2009; and
• a media release announcing the proposed draft variation to the Moree LAP.

On 11 November 2009, the ACMA wrote to the licensees providing radio broadcasting services to the Moree region to advise them of the release of the draft instrument and to invite their comments.

On Thursday 12 November 2009, the ACMA placed an advertisement in the “Moree Champion” newspaper outlining the effect of the draft variation to the Moree LAP, providing details of how to obtain copies of the draft variation, how to access it on the ACMA’s web site and inviting public comment.

The ACMA received two submissions on the draft variation to the Moree LAP, FAP and accompanying explanatory paper.

The submissions were from ABC and 2TRR. Both of the submissions supported the variations.

Description of the provisions of the instrument

Clause (1)

Clause (1) identifies the power under which the ACMA makes the instrument, section 26(2) of the BSA.

Clause (2)

Clause (2) names the instrument the Variation to the Licence Area Plan for Moree Radio – No. 1 of 2010.

Clause (3)

Clause (3) provides that the instrument commences the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Clause (4)(a)

Clause (4)(a) of the instrument deletes the heading “July 1998” from the front page of the LAP. The information was included for ease of reference only, but may be confusing.

Clause (4)(b)

Clause (4)(b) of the instrument numbers each of the paragraphs of the determination in the Moree LAP consecutively as clauses (1), (2) and (3).

Clause (4)(c)

Clause (4)(c) of the instrument deletes all text appearing immediately under the heading “SCHEDULES” in the Moree LAP (including the heading itself). The information was included for reference only, but may be confusing.

Clause (4)(d)

Clause (4)(d) of the instrument varies the words in clause (2) of the Moree LAP to increase the number of national radio broadcasting services to be available in the Moree RA1 licence area by one, to allow the Parliamentary News Network to be extended to the upper Namoi area.

Clause (4)(e)

Clause (4)(e) of the instrument inserts a new clause (4) into the Determination in the Moree LAP to ensure that it refers to schedules and attachments that have been amended from time to time by the ACMA.

Clause (4)(f)

Clause (4)(f) of the instrument replaces Schedule One and Schedule Two of the Moree LAP. These schedules set out the details of the national, commercial and community radio broadcasting services, and the open narrowcasting radio services that are to be available on particular frequencies in the Moree LAP. In particular, the schedules provide the technical specification numbers for each transmitter to be used by the services in each licence area in the Moree LAP, and specify the attachments which contain the technical specifications for each of those transmitters.  The only substantive change to the Schedules is to refer to Attachment 1.26, which includes the technical specifications for the new Parliamentary News Network service.

Additional changes include includes removing the words “- September 1997” from the headings of the schedules. This information was included for ease of reference only, but may be confusing.

Clause (4)(g)

Clause (4)(g) of the instrument removes all the attachments to the Moree LAP and substitutes in the corresponding places the attachments of the instrument having those same numbers. These new attachments contain the technical specifications for each transmitter to be used by the radio broadcasting services in the Moree LAP. The site tolerance has been updated in each of these attachments to refer to the Broadcasting Services (Technical Planning) Guidelines 2007. This information has been updated for ease of reference only.

The nominal location of the transmitter specified in each of Attachment 1.13, Attachment 1.14, Attachment 1.15, Attachment 1.19, Attachment 1.20 and Attachment 1.24 will be updated to provide a more accurate description of the transmitter site. This information is updated for ease of reference only and does not signify a change in broadcast site.

The Australian Map Grid reference and the nominal location of the transmitter specified in each of Attachment 1.8, Attachment 1.9, Attachment 1.10, Attachment 1.11, Attachment 1.12, Attachment 1.16, Attachment 1.17, Attachment 1.21, Attachment 1.22 and Attachment 1.23 has been updated to reflect the actual locations of the transmitters for these services on the information kept by the former Australian Communications Authority. The change in co-ordinates does not change the planned performance of any of the services.

The antenna height at Attachment 1.2, Attachment 1.3, Attachment 1.4, Attachment 1.5, Attachment 1.6 and Attachment 1.7 has been updated to reflect the actual operating conditions for these services on the advice of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The change in antenna height does not change the planned performance of any of the services.

Clause (4)(h)

Clause (4)(h) of the instrument inserts Attachment 1.26 into the Moree LAP. This attachment contains the technical specifications for a new national radio broadcasting service to be provided to the upper Namoi area. The service is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Parliamentary News Network/NewsRadio service.