VARIATION TO LICENCE AREA PLAN – WOLLONGONG RADIO – No 1 of 2006
Section 26 – Explanatory Statement
© Commonwealth of Australia 2006
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Legislative Instruments Act 2003
Variation to the licence area plan for Wollongong Radio – No 1 of 2006 made under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992
In accordance with the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005, from 1 July 2005 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) exercises powers and functions under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) previously exercised by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA).
On 7 December 2006, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) made a variation to the licence area plan for Wollongong Radio. The variation was made under section 26(2) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) and is referred to in this explanatory paper as “the instrument”.
The licence area plan and variations
ACMA prepares licence area plans under section 26(1) of the BSA. Licence area plans 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.
ACMA may vary licence area plans under section 26(2) of the BSA.
The ABA made the licence area plan for Wollongong Radio on 1 July 1999 and varied it on 20 November 2003. It is referred to in this explanatory statement as “the licence area plan”.
Intended impact and effect
The instrument makes minor and technical variations to the licence area plan to:
- remove technical specification for community radio broadcasting service with service licence number SL 1150266 to service the general area of Wollongong/Nowra in NSW.
- make minor and technical variations to the licence area plan to correct previous drafting errors; and
- delete information, that was included for reference only, that does not form part of the licence area plan and which may be confusing.
ACMA intends the effect of these variations to be to clarify the rights and obligations of radio broadcasting licensees in the Wollongong area. ACMA does not intend the variation to alter those rights and obligations
Consultation
Before making a decision to vary the licence area plan, ACMA undertook the following steps by way of consultation:
On 25 August 2006, ACMA published the following papers on its website:
- a draft variation to the licence area plan; and
- an explanatory paper about the changes proposed in the draft variation, inviting public comment by 22 September 2006.
ACMA received four submissions on the draft proposal and explanatory paper.
Description of the provisions of the instrument
Clause (1)
Clause (1)(a) of the instrument varies the text of the determination in the licence area plan to number each of the paragraphs in the determination consecutively as clauses.
Clause (1)(b) of the instrument varies the text of the determination in the licence area plan to reflect the former ABA’s intention in its variation to make additional channel capacity in the FM Band on 90.9 MHz at Illawarra and in the AM Band on 1035 kHz at Wollongong.
Clause (1)(c) of the instrument varies the text of the determination in the licence area plan to insert a new clause that will ensure that it refers to schedules and attachments that have been amended from time to time by the ACMA.
Clause (2)
Clauses (2)(a) and (b) of the instrument deletes the words “The Schedule sets out:” and the eight paragraphs marked with dot points under the heading “SCHEDULES” and following the determination in the licence area plan. The paragraphs contained information, included for reference, that does not form part of the licence area plan and which may be confusing.
Clauses (2)(c) and (d) of the instrument delete the headings “Status Column” and “Frequency Column” and all text following each heading. The paragraphs contained information, included for reference, that does not form part of the licence area plan and which may be confusing.
Clause (3)
Clause (3) of the instrument varies Schedules One and Two to the licence area plan. The schedules set out details of the national, commercial, open narrowcasting and community radio broadcasting services that are to be available on particular frequencies in the Wollongong RA1 and RA2 licence areas. In particular, the schedules provide the technical specification numbers for the transmitters to be used by the services and specify the attachments which contain the technical specification for each of those transmitters.
Column 2 of schedules in the licence area plan is headed “status” and contains information, included for reference, that does not form part of the licence area plan and which may be confusing.
Clause (3) of the instrument deletes the column headed “status” from Schedules One and Two to the licence area plan.
Clause (4)
Clause (4) of the instrument omits row 1 in Schedule Two, which contains the details of a community radio broadcasting service at Wollongong/Nowra.
Clause (5)
Clause (5) of the instrument deletes Attachment 2.2 from the licence area plan. Attachment 2.2 contained the technical specification for the community radio broadcasting service with SL 1150266 to serve the Wollongong/Nowra area of NSW.