The Australian Broadcasting Authority was an Australian government

Government of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...

 agency whose main roles were to regulate broadcasting

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

, radiocommunications and telecommunications.

The Australian Broadcasting Authority took over the functions of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal and the National Transmission Authority.

The Australian Broadcasting Tribunal took over the functions of the Australian Broadcasting Control Board in the 1970s. The engineering function in some cases was handled by the National Transmission Authority, when the Post Office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

 ceased being responsible for telecommunications.

On 1 July 2005, the Australian Communications and Media Authority

Australian Communications and Media Authority

The Australian Communications and Media Authority is an Australian government statutory authority within the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy portfolio...

 (ACMA) brought together the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) .