Postal and Telecommunications Department
22 December 1975 – 3 November 1980
Renamed Department of Communications in 1980.
Policy department for postal, telecommunications and broadcasting matters, overseeing Australia Post, Telecom Australia, the Overseas Telecommunications Commission and the national broadcasters, and responsible for radio frequency management and the technical planning of broadcasting services.
Names over time
- Postal and Telecommunications Department1975–1980
- Department of Communications1980–1987
How it came into existence
Created by the Administrative Arrangements Order of 22 December 1975, replacing the Postmaster-General's Department, which had continued as a small policy department after postal and telecommunications operations passed to the Australian Postal Commission and the Australian Telecommunications Commission on 1 July 1975. It also took broadcasting from the abolished Department of the Media, and on 1 January 1977 took over the technical planning functions of the abolished Australian Broadcasting Control Board.
- Postal and telecommunications policy
- Radio frequency management
- Broadcasting and television policy
Changes during its life
- Technical planning of broadcasting and television services
- Ethnic radio stations 2EA and 3EA
The stations were set up in 1975 under the Department of the Media and passed with broadcasting to the Postal and Telecommunications Department in December 1975.
How it ended
Renamed the Department of Communications on 3 November 1980, with Ian Sinclair as Minister for Communications.
- Postal and telecommunications policy
- Broadcasting policy
- Radio frequency management
Main functions
- Postal and telecommunications policy
- Oversight of the Australian Postal Commission, the Australian Telecommunications Commission and the Overseas Telecommunications Commission
- Broadcasting and television policy, including the ABC and the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal
- Radio frequency spectrum management and technical planning of broadcasting stations
- Ethnic broadcasting (stations 2EA and 3EA) until the Special Broadcasting Service took it over in 1978
Bodies in this portfolio (1)
- Australian Broadcasting Control Board 1949–1977
Lineage
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