Broadcasting Services Amendment (Community Radio) 2022

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Broadcasting Services Amendment (Community Radio) 2022

**What it does**

This law makes changes to how community radio stations get and keep their broadcasting licenses in Australia. It gives the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) clearer power to decide when to hand out community radio licenses, and it standardizes license periods to 5 years instead of varying lengths.

**Why it matters**

Community radio stations—the ones run by volunteers and local groups—now have more certainty about how long their licenses last and when they need to renew them. This makes it easier for these stations to plan ahead and secure funding, since they know exactly when their license expires.

**Key details**

- **License length**: Community radio licenses now run for a fixed 5-year term, giving stations a predictable timeline for renewal.
- **Application deadlines**: The ACMA can set firm cutoff dates for late license renewal applications, so stations can't indefinitely delay applying.
- **Commencement**: The changes took effect as soon as the bill received Royal Assent (passed into law).

Official Description

Amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to: provide for applications for renewals of an existing community broadcasting licence to be considered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) as a current service and not a proposed new service; enable the ACMA to grant community broadcasting licences and temporary community broadcasting licences with effect from a specified future date; amend the criteria for new temporary community broadcasting licences; enable the ACMA to limit the number of temporary community broadcasting licences that can share a particular frequency; provide for deadlines for late applications for the renewal of a community licence; and provide for expedited timelines for the ACMA to commence a process to allocate new community broadcasting licences.

Committee Referrals

Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

27 Oct 2022

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Outcome date

13 Dec 2022

Last checked by Crossbench

yesterday

Full text indexed

yesterday

🗳️

No formal division recorded

This bill passed by voice vote — parliament agreed without calling a formal count. A division is only recorded when a member explicitly requests one.

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