Media and communications policy watchers in Oz must be buzzing with excitement: As we’ve reported before, similar to Ofcom, Australia is creating a new media and communications regulator that will commence operations on July 1, 2005. The new regulator will be called ACMA - the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

But Adele Ferguson of BRW recently reported that, with just a few months remaining before ACMA is supposed to start business, there’s been no chairperson announced. The scuttlebutt is that ACMA may not be endowed with enough powers to really take on Telstra and that the governing legislation is out-of-date. Ferguson’s take? ‘If history is any guide, the ACMA will be as toothless as its parents [the ABA and ACA]’.

Compare Ofcom’s early days - Lord Currie was appointed over one year prior to Ofcom’s December 2003 launch. And Stephen Carter took up his post about nine months prior to Ofcom’s launch.

Has anyone told DCITA that July 1 is only about 2 months away?