Convergence strains media and communication legislation reports ACMA

Content legislation can’t keep up with media convergence, the Australian Communications and Media Authority reveals in a new paper, Broken Concepts: The Australian communications legislative landscape.

The paper reports that the majority of the 55 legislative concepts analysed, that builds and controls media regulation, are broken or strained by digitisation and technology which are beyond the parameters of the legislation.

“The constructs for communications and media that worked 20 years ago no longer fit present day circumstances, let alone the next 20 years,” said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.

“As Australia’s converged regulator for broadcasting, telecommunications, radio communications and online content, the ACMA deals on a daily basis with the rapidly changing communications and media environment,” Mr Chapman said. “Its current responsibilities cover 26 Acts and more than five hundred pieces of subordinate legislation. And yet the majority of the legislation the ACMA administers was made before the internet was even in use in Australia.”