- Functions and responsibilities
- Revenue collection
- Structure
- The Authority
- Corporate structure
- Corporate governance
Vision
To be known as an integrated, forward-looking, proactive and flexible organisation that is recognised as a leading communications regulator that supports and encourages an innovative and vibrant communications sector.
Strategic intent
To enable the communications needs of the Australian community to be met by supporting and encouraging an innovative and vibrant communications sector.
Goals
- To manage an effective regulatory environment that:
- supports a dynamic communications sector and
- enables industry to meet the communications needs of the community.
- A professional and highly committed workforce.
Functions and responsibilities
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is a statutory authority within the federal government portfolio of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Senator the Hon. Helen Coonan was the Minister responsible for the portfolio throughout 2005–06.
ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 as a result of the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the Australian Communications Authority (ACA). Following the passage of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005, the ACA and the ABA ceased operating on 30 June 2005, with all functions of both agencies transferred to ACMA. As such, ACMA is responsible for the regulation of broadcasting, the internet, radiocommunications and telecommunications.
ACMA’s specific responsibilities include:
- managing access to radiofrequency spectrum bands through radiocommunications licence arrangements, and resolving competing demands for that spectrum through price-based allocation methods;
- planning the availability of segments of radiofrequency spectrum bands used by broadcasting services and managing access to that spectrum through broadcasting licence arrangements;
- regulating compliance with the relevant legislation, licence conditions, codes of practice, standards, service guarantees and other safeguards;
- promoting and facilitating industry self-regulatory solutions to emerging issues;
- where necessary, exercising powers to create delegated legislation, often in the form of standards or service provider rules;
- facilitating the provision of community information to promote informed decisions about communications products and services;
- reporting on matters relating to the communications industry, including its performance;
- representing Australia’s communications interests internationally; and
- advising the government on specific matters from time to time.
Revenue collection
ACMA collects regular revenue through broadcasting, radiocommunications and telecommunications licence fees, and charges for telecommunications numbers. In 2005–06, ACMA’s budget funding was $72.857 million and actual regular revenue collection was $734.83 million (see Figure 1).
Non-regular revenue was raised from market-based spectrum allocation and the auction of smartnumbers® (desirable freephone and local rate numbers). Non-regular revenue in 2005–06 was around $20.388 million (compared with $18.696 million in 2004–05 for the ABA and ACA), with spectrum allocations raising $105,000. Since 1997, more than $3 billion has been raised from spectrum allocations for the Commonwealth.
Figure 1: Costs and revenues 2004–07 ($’000)
Note: for comparison, the ABA and ACA figures for 2004–05 have been combined
TopStructure
The Authority
At 30 June 2006, the Authority comprised the Chair, the Deputy Chair, one full-time Member and four part-time Members.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: Chris Chapman
Appointed 27 February 2006 for five years
Chris Chapman has significant experience in broadcasting and telecommunications, as well as extensive legal, financial and management experience. Before joining ACMA, he was Chief Operating Officer of specialist funds-management activities at Babcock and Brown Limited. Immediately prior to that, he was Managing Director and Chief Executive of Babcock and Brown Infrastructure Management Limited (formerly Prime Infrastructure Management Limited); Chief Executive Officer of the Optus joint venture Excite@Home Australia Pty Limited; Chief Executive Officer of Stadium Australia Management Limited; Chairman of Film Australia Limited; Director of the National Film and Sound Archive and occupied various senior management positions within Seven Network. He also practised as a lawyer with Mallesons and was Associate to the Chief Justice of Australia.
Deputy Chair: Lyn Maddock
Appointed 1 July 2005 for four years
Lyn Maddock served as the Acting Chair of ACMA during the period between the creation of the agency on 1 July 2005 and the appointment of Chris Chapman on 27 February 2006. She had previously served as the Acting Chair of the ABA and was the Deputy Chair of the ABA from 2000 to 2005. She has broad experience within the public sector, including senior roles with the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, the Productivity Commission and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and has also held senior positions with Westpac.
Full-time Member: Chris Cheah
Appointed 1 July 2005 for four years
Chris Cheah was previously head of the Telecommunications Division of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, advising the government on telecommunications issues. He has also managed accessibility funding programs and held positions with Austel (the predecessor to the ACA) and Telstra.
Part-time Member: Gerard Anderson
Appointed 1 July 2005 for three years
Professor Gerard Anderson is Head of Academic Programs at the University of Central Queensland’s Melbourne campus and was formerly Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of the School of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Ballarat. He has been a member of the Networking the Nation board and has considerable experience in regional communications and information technology.
Part-time Member: Malcolm Long
Appointed 1 July 2005 for four years
Malcolm Long is Executive Director of the Australian Film Television and Radio School and was a part-time member of the ABA. He was previously the Managing Director of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), has held various roles with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, including Deputy Managing Director, and has worked for several years as a communications consultant.
Part-time Member: Johanna Plante
Appointed 1 July 2005 for three years
Johanna Plante was the former Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Communications Industry Forum. She has held senior positions with KPMG, Telstra, Pacific Star Communications, and Coopers and Lybrand, was a member of Austel and a board member of Networking the Nation.
Part-time Member: Rod Shogren
Appointed 1 July 2005 for three years
Rod Shogren is a former commissioner with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, with a role in telecommunications regulation. He has held a number of senior positions within the public sector, including Associate Member of the ACA, and is a consultant for Access Economics.
Corporate structure
ACMA’s day-to-day activities are managed by an executive team comprising the Chair, the Deputy Chair, the full-time Member, five General Managers and 11 Executive Managers. ACMA’s corporate structure at 30 June 2006 is set out in Figure 2.
ACMA’s current corporate structure was introduced on 1 February 2006. Before that time, ACMA adopted an interim structure based on the two separate structures inherited from the ABA and ACA, which reflected the historically separate sectors of broadcasting, telecommunications and radiocommunications. The new structure is designed to better reflect the converging nature of the communications environment and provide stakeholders with access to a more cohesive arrangement of responsibilities. It aligns ACMA’s operations to reflect, firstly, regulatory ‘inputs’ to industry (including allocation and planning of spectrum, numbering, licensing and technical standards) and, secondly, the functional ‘outputs’ from industry that are regulated (including codes, content standards, investigations and consumer issues). This two-part structure is underpinned by corporate, legal, and strategy and coordination areas.
At 30 June 2006, ACMA employed 500 staff under the Public Service Act 1999, most of whom are located in ACMA’s central offices in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. ACMA also has regional offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, and operations centres in Adelaide, Cairns, Canberra, Coffs Harbour, Darwin, Hobart, Newcastle, Rockhampton, Townsville and Wodonga.
Contact details for all offices are provided in Appendix 1. Detailed information about ACMA’s staff is provided in Appendix 3.
Figure 2: Corporate structure of ACMA at 30 June 2006
Corporate governance
ACMA’s regulatory functions are set out in Part 2, Division 2 of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005. Under this Act, responsibility for decisions about the agency’s regulatory functions rests with ACMA as an Authority.
Under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, responsibility for governance and management of the agency rests with the ACMA Chair as the Chief Executive Officer. The ACMA Chair is also the head of ACMA for the purposes of the Public Service Act 1999 and has the rights, duties and powers of an employer in respect of Australian public service employees in ACMA.
During 2005–06, some of the powers vested in the Authority and the Chair under the Acts above were delegated ex-officio to other ACMA managers. Such delegations were linked to responsibility for particular activities as set out in organisational business plans and individual performance agreements.
The ACMA Audit Committee provides independent assurance and assistance to the Chair on ACMA’s risk, control and compliance framework, as well as its external accountability responsibilities. The committee also provides a valuable forum for communication between senior management and the internal auditor (KPMG) and external auditor (the Australian National Audit Office). Issues addressed by the Audit Committee during 2005–06 focused on whole-of-organisation processes and key corporate processes, particularly those associated with financial statements preparation.
Throughout 2005–06, the ACMA Executive Group assisted the Chair in his role as the Chief Executive Officer of ACMA by providing counsel on issues of high-level corporate or strategic significance to the agency. The Executive Group comprised the Chair, the Deputy Chair, the full-time Member and the five General Managers.
More information about corporate governance (audit, security and risk management) is given in Chapter 4.
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