National security
National security
The telecommunications sector is principally regulated through the 
Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act) and its related legislative package. The main policy objectives are to promote the long-term interests of end-users of carriage services and the efficiency and international competitiveness of the Australian telecommunications industry.
Part 16 of the Act places obligations on carriers and carriage service providers to supply carriage services to defence organisations for defence purposes and to cooperate with defence authorities in planning for network survival and operational requirements in times of crisis. For the purposes of defence planning, crisis is defined as being:
- war, war-like conflict or war-like operations, or
- civil disturbance, or
- terrorism, or
- earthquakes, floods, fire, cyclones, storms or other disasters (whether natural or resulting from the acts or omissions of humans).
A defence authority may give a carrier or carriage service provider written notice to provide a service for the Department of Defence or the Defence Force for the purposes of national security or natural disasters. The carrier or carriage service provider must provide the service requested unless the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) issues a certificate stating that it would be unreasonable for the supplier to provide the service in the circumstances.
A defence authority may prepare, in consultation with a carrier or carriage service provider, a draft agreement about planning for network survivability and/or operational requirements in times of crises. The ACMA may certify the agreement if it is of the opinion it is reasonable, whereupon it becomes a certified agreement. Carriers or carriage service providers must comply with a notice from the ACMA to enter into an agreement and, once it has entered into the agreement, the carrier or carriage service provider must comply with it.
For further information on national security:
