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This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
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CONTENTS
Broadcasting Services Legislation Amendment Bill
1997
Date Introduced: 19 March 1997
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Communication and the Arts
Commencement: On the day on which the Act receives
the Royal Assent
The purpose of the Bill is to make minor consequential
amendments to the Broadcasting Services legislation to re-locate
provisions concerning annual licence fees for commercial radio and
television from the former Broadcasting Services Act 1942
to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, and to rectify a
small unintended anomaly in the cross-media rules.
The Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act) is the
cornerstone for regulation of broadcasting throughout Australia.The
Act establishes the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) which
has the responsibility for planning, licensing and program
regulation for the industry.The ABA also monitors the industry by
way of research on community attitudes and the investigation of
complaints.The Act also contains the cross-media rules and the
limitation on foreign control of television.
The cross-media rules involve considerations of concentrations
in the media and the need for diversity of views and opinions in a
free and democratic society.The cross-media rules are complex but,
basically, they prevent a person who controls a television licence
from also controlling a newspaper associated with the television
licence area.Similarly, the cross-media rules prevent a person who
controls a radio licence from also controlling a newspaper
associated with the same licence area as the radio licence.For
newspapers, the association within the broadcast licence area is
relevant when at least 50% of the circulation of the newspaper is
within the licence area
The cross-media rules have created an unintended consequence in
that the rules do not differentiate between major metropolitan
daily newspapers and small-run local newspapers.The problem has
been highlighted in cities such as Brisbane where the broadcast of
a major radio station is also received in the nearby City of
Ipswich which has a local daily newspaper as well as the major
metropolitan dailies.Common ownership of the radio station and the
local newspaper is a problem under the existing cross-media rules
even though the population covered in the newspaper circulation may
not be significant.A practical but ad hoc solution to the
problem has been to artificially reduce the impact of the
circulation by the distribution of some free copies of the local
daily. (1)
The Bill addresses this problem by adding to the cross-media
provision on newspaper circulation (50% within the licence area)
another criterion that the circulation must also cover at least
2% of the licence area population.
The Bill is part of a package which also includes the Television
Licence Fees Amendment Bill 1997 and the Radio Licence Fees
Amendment Bill 1997 which apply a requirement for the payment of
annual commercialbroadcast licences, respectively.
Note: The provisions in the Bill are implemented by way
of Schedules to the Bill.The terminology used will therefore be
Items in the Schedule and not Clauses in the Bill.
Schedule 1
Item 2 is the key provision in the Bill.It adds
to the criterion in section 59 of the Broadcasting Services Act
1992 which determines that a newspaper is associated with the
holder of a commercial radio broadcasting licence if 50% of the
circulation of the newspaper is in the broadcasting licence area,
the additional criterion that the circulation of the newspaper must
also involve at least 2% of the population in the licence area.If
the two criteria are applicable then common ownership of the radio
broadcasting licence and control of the newspaper is proscribed
under the cross-media rules.The cross-media rule is being modified
so that small local newspapers are not treated as if they were an
influential metropolitan daily newspaper.
Where a newspaper is 'associated' with a commercial radio
broadcasting licence area, the name of the newspaper must be
entered into the Associated Newspaper Register by the
Australian Broadcasting Authority.
The additional criterion does not apply to commercial television
broadcasting because of the larger market coverage of television,
particularly in regional licence areas.
Item 3 amends the table of persons who may
apply to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal concerning a decision
by the ABA to enter the name of a newspaper on the Associated
Newspaper Register to allow an appeal by a licensee of a
commercial radio station.Previously, the right of appeal was
confined to a television licensee or the publisher of a
newspaper.
Item 5 inserts a new Part 14A -
Accounts and payment of licence fees in the
Broadcasting Services Act 1992.This new part simply
provides the administrative arrangements for the application,
payment and penalties for non-payment of licence fees imposed under
the separate taxing statutes, the Television Licence Fees
Act and the Radio Licence Fees Act.
Schedule 2
Item 1 in this Schedule repeals spent
provisions from the Broadcasting Services (Transitional
Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 1922
(Transitional Provisions Act) which dealt with the option
to convert certain AM commercial radio licences to FM commercial
radio licences.The Item also repeals section 22
(Licence Fees) of the Transitional Provisions Act as a
consequence of the inclusion of proposed licence fee provisions in
this new legislative package of Bills.
There is another view to the justification for this minor
amendment to the cross-media rules as expressed in the
Background, above.In a letter to the
Editor of the Australian Financial Review, under the
heading 'No such thing as a non-controversial media amendment', (2)
Sue Ferguson of the Communications Law Centre in Sydney queries the
timing of this proposed amendment given the current debate over
cross-media rules.Ms Ferguson suggests that it may be more
appropriate to allow such proposed amendments to be consider in the
context of a wider public inquiry into the cross-media rules.
- See Second Reading debate in the House of Representatives on
the Broadcasting Service Legislation Amendment Bill 1997,
especially that of Hon Michael Lee, Member for Dobell Hansard,
House of Representatives, 14 May 1997: 3542.
- Ferguson, S. 'No such thing as a non-controversial media
amendment', Letters to the Editor Australian Financial Review, 15
May 1997.
Brendan Bailey
23 May 1997
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other
sources should be consulted to determine whether the Bill has been
enacted and, if so, whether the subsequent Act reflects further
amendments.
IRS staff are available to discuss the paper's contents
with Senators and Members and their staff but not with members of
the public.
ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 1997
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
1997.
This page was prepared by the Parliamentary Library,
Commonwealth of Australia
Last updated: 23 May 1997
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