Responsibilities under the Telecommunications Act

The Department is responsible for providing policy advice to the Minister on parts eight and 13 to 16 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act) covering:

• emergency call services
• telecommunications privacy
• law enforcement
• natural disasters   
• national security
  • physical infrastructure in the telecommunications, broadcasting and postal sectors, and
  • administration of the relevant provisions of the Telecommunications Act including defence and disaster planning, regulation of radiocommunications spectrum and the postal industry, and liaison with Attorney-General's Department on interception issues.

The Department also holds responsibility for e-security policy matters—including cyber security and protection of information infrastructure as part of its mandate to foster the digital economy.
including protection of the physical infrastructure).

The primary responsibility for administering these areas of the Act falls to the Australian Communications and Media Authority Authority (ACMA), with the Attorney-General's Department and the Australian Information Commissioner responsible for specific issues such as interception and privacy issues respectively.

Document ID: 2398 | Last modified: 27 May 2011, 5:02pm