There is a substantial regulatory framework for access to broadcast television in Australia, particularly in regards to captioning.
For more specific information about the regulation of free-to-air television captioning and subscription television captioning, visit the following pages:
Australia currently has a variety of legislative and policy instruments which mandate and support accessibility. It remains the case that there is no single, overarching accessibility instrument or regulatory regime, and each media form is subject to its own set of laws and regulators. Like many other countries, accessibility instruments and regulation face the challenge of media convergence.
For those interested in reading more details about Australian policies please visit the following sections:
The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) administers the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (DDA), which is the primary piece of Australian legislation which makes disability discrimination illegal.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has regulatory jurisdiction over television, radio, the internet, and telecommunications. Television is the only medium that has formal requirements and so the ACMA will only hear complaints about access to television services.
The Media Access Review began under the Howard Government, and encompassed issues surrounding captioning, audio description, cinema and DVD accessibility, and emergency notification. The ‘Media access review final report’ proposed many positive recommendations, including:
