Terms of Reference

The Senate referred the following matters to the Committee for inquiry and report by 10 March 2005:

(a)               the provisions of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Bill 2004 and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2004 and related bills;

(b)               whether the powers of the proposed Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will be sufficient to deal with emerging market and technical issues in the telecommunications, media and broadcasting sectors; and

(c)               whether the powers of Australia's competition and communications regulators meet world best practice, with particular reference to the United Kingdom regulator OFCOM and regulators in the United States of America and Europe.