EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Approved by the Australian Communications and Media Authority
Broadcasting Services Act 1992
Variation to Licence Area Plan – Remote Central and Eastern Australian Radio – 2017 (No. 1)
Authority
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA) has made the Variation to Licence Area Plan – Remote Central and Eastern Australian Radio – 2017 (No. 1) (the instrument) under subsection 26(2) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act).
Subsection 26(2) of the Act provides that the ACMA may, by legislative instrument, vary a licence area plan (LAP).
Purpose and operation of the instrument
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 Australian Broadcasting Authority made the Licence Area Plan – Remote Central and Eastern Australia Radio (October 1996) (F2005B01472) (the Remote LAP) on 14 October 1996.
The instrument varies the characteristics, including technical specifications, of radio broadcasting services in five licence areas in the Remote LAP: the Remote Commercial Radio Service Central Zone RA1, the Remote Commercial Radio Service North East Zone RA1, Central Zone RA2, the Remote Central and Eastern Australia Radio and Wujal Wujal RA1 by:
- making radiofrequency spectrum available for infill transmitters and/or amending technical specifications for the commercial radio broadcasting service with the callsign 8SAT at Beulah, Birchip and Mt Buller in Victoria;
- making radiofrequency spectrum available for infill transmitters and/or amending technical specifications for the commercial radio broadcasting service with the callsign 4RBL at Bocoble, Coonamble, Great Lakes, Kendall and Warrumbungle in NSW, and Childers and Cooktown in Queensland;
- making radiofrequency spectrum available for infill transmitters and/or amending technical specifications for the commercial radio broadcasting service with the callsign 4BRZ at Bocoble, Coolah, Coonamble, Great Lakes, Kendall and Warrumbungle in NSW, and Childers in Queensland;
- amending technical specifications and the licence area for the community radio broadcasting service with the callsign 4ACR at Wujal Wujal in Queensland;
- making radiofrequency spectrum available for infill transmitters for the community radio broadcasting service with the callsign 8KIN at Ceduna in SA, and Elliott and Katherine in NT; and
- including the technical specifications for six national broadcasting services that have been operating for many years.
The ACMA does not intend the instrument to alter any existing rights and obligations, except as set out above.
The instrument also updates some licence area descriptions, transmitter site nominal locations, Australian Map Grid references for transmitters and advisory notes for commercial radio broadcasting services where required. However, these updates do not reflect changes to the ways in which affected services are provided.
The instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (the LA).
Documents incorporated by reference
The instrument incorporates the Broadcasting Services (Technical Planning) Guidelines 2017, as in force from time to time.
The Broadcasting Services (Technical Planning) Guidelines 2017 may be accessed from the Federal Register of Legislation at: www.legislation.gov.au.
Consultation
Before the instrument was made, the ACMA was satisfied that consultation was undertaken to the extent appropriate and reasonably practicable, in accordance with section 17 of the LA.
Before making the decision to vary the Remote LAP, the ACMA invited comment on a draft version of the instrument by publishing it on the ACMA website on 12 February 2016. The draft instrument was accompanied by a discussion paper which provided the background to each individual proposal and discussed the draft instrument itself. The ACMA also wrote to the commercial radio broadcasting licensees and other broadcasting licensees in the remote licence areas and adjacent radio licence areas inviting comment on the proposal to vary the Remote LAP.
The consultation period ended on 25 March 2016. The ACMA received seven submissions in total. One of those submissions referred to a prior proposal about a transmitter at Bunnaloo, NSW – a proposal that was included in a prior variation to the Remote LAP in 2015.
After considering the other six submissions, the ACMA re-consulted in August 2017 on one of the proposals that had been discussed in the 2016 discussion paper. The proposal was to make spectrum available for two transmitters for the 4RBL and 4BRZ services at Bocoble, NSW. In response, the ACMA received a further submission from one of the original seven submitters.
The ACMA took all submissions into account when considering whether to make the instrument, and in what form.
Regulatory impact assessment
The ACMA considered whether a regulatory impact analysis process was required and formed the view that the changes effected by the instrument were machinery matters that would not have more than a minor regulatory impact. The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has determined that a variation to an established LAP is unlikely to have more than a minor regulatory impact and is exempt from the OBPR clearance process. Consequently, no further regulatory impact analysis is required (OBPR reference 13301).
Statement of compatibility with human rights
Subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 requires the rule-maker in relation to a legislative instrument to which section 42 (disallowance) of the LA applies to cause a statement of compatibility to be prepared in respect of that legislative instrument.
The statement of compatibility set out below has been prepared to meet that requirement.
Overview of the instrument
The instrument varies the Licence Area Plan – Remote Central and Eastern Australia Radio. The instrument makes radiofrequency spectrum available and/or amends transmitter specifications for several commercial and community radio broadcasting services in the remote licence areas and updates the schedules and various attachments in the Licence Area Plan – Remote Central and Eastern Australia Radio.
Human rights implications
The ACMA has assessed whether the instrument is compatible with human rights, being the rights and freedoms recognised or declared by the international instruments listed in subsection 3(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 as they apply to Australia.
Having considered the likely impact of the instrument and the nature of the applicable rights and freedoms, the ACMA has formed the view that the instrument does not engage any of those rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
The instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.
Attachment A
Notes to the Variation to Licence Area Plan – Remote Central and Eastern Australia Radio – 2017 (No. 1)
Section 1 Name
This section provides for the instrument to be cited as the Variation to Licence Area Plan – Remote Central and Eastern Australia Radio – 2017 (No. 1).
Section 2 Commencement
This section provides for the instrument to commence at the start of the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
The Federal Register of Legislation may be accessed at www.legislation.gov.au.
Section 3 Authority
This section specifies the provision in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 under which the instrument is made.
Section 4 Variation
This section varies the Remote LAP as specified in paragraphs 4(a) to (d).
Paragraph 4(a)
Paragraph 4(a) omits numbered paragraphs (2), (3), (4) and (5) of the Remote LAP and substitutes new paragraphs (2), (3), (4) and (5).
The new paragraph (2) updates Schedule One by reflecting the addition of three new attachments which denote the provision of radiofrequency spectrum for infill transmitters and amends technical specifications for commercial broadcasting services at Beulah, Birchip and Mt Buller in Victoria.
The new paragraph (3) updates Schedule Two by including a number of new attachments that denote the provision of radiofrequency spectrum for infill transmitters and amends technical specifications for commercial broadcasting services at Bocoble, Coolah, Coonamble, Great Lakes, Kendall and Warrumbungle in New South Wales, and Cooktown and Childers in Queensland.
The new paragraph (4) updates Schedule Three by including new attachments for six national broadcasting services, changing the total number of national radio broadcasting services from one hundred and six to one hundred and twelve. The paragraph also corrects a numbering error in Schedule Three of the Remote LAP by changing the total number of open narrowcasting services from twelve to thirteen.
The new paragraph (5) updates Schedule Four by including new attachments which denote the provision of spectrum for community radio broadcasting services at Ceduna in South Australia and Elliott and Katherine in the Northern Territory.
Paragraph 4(b)
This paragraph replaces paragraph (57) of the Remote LAP with a new paragraph (57). The new paragraph (57) provides that references to schedules and attachments in the Remote LAP are references to those schedules and attachments as in force from time to time. The same interpretative rule applies to legislative instruments referred to in the Remote LAP. The paragraph also explains that references to other kinds of instruments in the Remote LAP are references to those instruments as in force as at the time the reference was included.
Paragraph 4(c)
Paragraph 4(c) replaces Schedules One, Two, Three, Four and Forty-Seven with new schedules with the same numbering. The schedules set out the details of the national, commercial, community and open narrowcasting radio broadcasting services that are to be available on particular frequencies in the following licence areas:
- Remote Commercial Radio Service Central Zone RA1;
- Remote Commercial Radio Service North East Zone RA1;
- Remote Central and Eastern Australia Radio;
- Central Zone RA2; and
- Wujal Wujal RA1.
Each schedule specifies: a service category, the channel or frequency on which the service operates, the service licence number, the transmitter specification number for the particular transmitter, the attachment number that contains the technical specification for the transmitter, and the area served by the transmitter.
Paragraph 4(d)
Paragraph 4(d) omits Attachments 1.4 to 1.38, 2.8 to 2.83, 3.2 to 3.120, 4.6 to 4.17, 5.1, 47.1 and 47.2 and inserts new Attachments 1.4 to 1.41, 2.8 to 2.93, 3.2 to 3.126, 4.6 to 4.20, 5.1 to 45.1 and 47.1, 47.2, 48.1 to 56.1.
New Attachments 1.4, 1.5 and 1.28 contain the technical specifications for transmitters for the commercial radio broadcasting service under Service Licence number SL10147 to be available at Beulah, Birchip and Mt Buller in the Remote Commercial Radio Service Central Zone RA1 licence area.
The new attachments in Schedule Two: 2.8, 2.12, 2.13, 2.17, 2.19, 2.24, 2.30, 2.50, 2.58, 2.62, 2.66, 2.67, 2.72, 2.76 and 2.91, contain the technical specifications for the transmitters for the commercial radio broadcasting services under Service Licence numbers SL10216 and SL1150711 to be available at Bocoble, Childers, Coolah, Cooktown, Coonamble, Great Lakes, Kendall and Warrumbungle in the Remote Commercial Radio Service North East Zone RA1 licence area.
New Attachments 3.6, 3.29, 3.30, 3.54, 3.55 and 3.74 contain the technical specifications for the transmitters for six national radio broadcasting services that have been operating for many years. Spectrum capacity for these services was previously reserved by the Notice of Reservation of Capacity for National Radio Broadcasting Services (No. 1) 2005. As the notice has been repealed on 1 October 2015, the instrument includes these services in the Remote LAP.
New Attachments 4.6, 4.7 and 4.12, denote the provision of spectrum for community radio broadcasting services at Ceduna in South Australia and Elliott and Katherine in the Northern Territory.
New Attachments 5.1 to 45.1 and 47.1, 47.2, 48.1 to 56.1 contain the licence area definitions for 50 remote community radio broadcasting services in terms used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the 2006 census and the technical specifications for the community radio broadcasting service under Service Licence number SL10207 in the Wujal Wujal RA1 licence area.
Minor amendments to the descriptions of nominal locations of transmitter sites, to Australian Map Grid references, and to advisory notes, have been made in some of the attachments. In each case the information has been updated to better reflect current operations and is for ease of reference only. These amendments do not signify a change to the planned performance of the relevant transmitter.