GNSS Coordination at the National Level: the Australian Experience

In May 2000 the Australian Minister for Transport and Regional Services, advised by his Department, established a non-executive stakeholder body, the Australian GNSS Coordination Committee (AGCC), with terms of reference aimed at national coordination of GNSS application. This initiative responded principally to perceptions of potential for economies and efficiencies from national-level standardising and investment-sharing of equipment and services, especially in GNSS infrastructure and augmentation. In the event, in its first three years the AGCC was little able to exert significant influence in such market-driven areas. Rather, it successfully developed for government endorsement, in August 2002, a wide-ranging national GNSS policy and also addressed priority applications issues concerning GNSS jamming and interference, spectrum licensing, legal positioning/timing matters, and national and international connections, including with GPS and Galileo program management. Following a performance review in 2003 the AGCC’s mandate was extended to 2006, with revised terms of reference. This paper critically examines the experience of the AGCC in national-level coordination of GNSS application. As in many countries, Australia does not control sources of GNSS signals and applications are pervasive within a free-market economy. No single government agency or industry sector has general GNSS control or policy mandate. The degree to which, in this environment, a non-executive body like the AGCC can be effective in its role is discussed. The experience and future plans of the AGCC reported in this paper raise topics of relevance not only for Australia but for other countries as well that seek a degree of national coordination and efficiency in GNSS application