ACMA focuses on the future of communications

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is poised to play a pivotal role in future regulatory arrangements for a digitally connected Australia and the evolving networked society, said ACMA chairman Chris Chapman.

Chapman said this as he was delivering the annual Charles Todd Oration, which commemorates the legacy of Charles Todd, the Australian communications pioneer who built the Port Augusta to Darwin telegraph in 1870.

“Charles Todd refused to be tyrannised by distance and pioneered our electronic connection with the world, becoming perhaps our first internet pioneer,” Chapman said. “Our electronic connection with the world, commencing with Charles Todd’s telegraph and continuing with the optical fibres and satellites of the present, means that we can equally network with and benefit from global developments, and globalisation itself.”

Chapman said the ACMA anticipates the communications and media space will continue to rapidly evolve, and its regulatory response is going to need to evolve with it.

“I think this evolution drives a need to empower the regulator to be flexible and rapidly adaptive to changing industry circumstances. I believe the ACMA is increasingly well positioned to be the future regulatory focus for a digitally connected Australia and the evolving networked society.”

He said the ACMA was established as a ‘converged’ regulator, designed to bring together the threads of this evolving communications universe.

“The digital convergence challenge appears to have been compounded by - or almost run over by - the emergence and dominance of internet protocol (IP) networks in the last decade. This has meant content has become increasingly nonlinear, interlinked and ‘uncontained’ while people increasingly expect to connect and communicate seamlessly - anywhere, anyhow, anytime: the 21st-century equivalent of Charles Todd’s intent.

“What is, and will, be needed is regulation that is ‘fit for purpose’, which means regulation that is evidence-informed and that engages all stakeholders; industry, consumers, citizens, legislators and ourselves as regulators.”

Chapman said the principal legislation the ACMA works to was made before the internet took off in Australia, and changes to address ‘convergence’ have largely been ‘tacked on’ to existing legislative constructs. He said while the government is currently considering the recommendations of the recent Convergence Review, the ACMA has simply been getting on with its day job as well as continuing to build on our informative and highly cited work in the convergence space.

“Today I am releasing a video snapshot of ACMA’s work - what we are and how the ACMA interacts with the diverse and complex Australian media and communications landscape.

“This snapshot also inevitably has a future focus, a future in which I see an enhanced and strengthened ACMA playing a pivotal role.”