There have been no recent changes in mobile phone mast regulations in either Australia or New Zealand. Both the Australian and New Zealand standards for limiting public exposure to radio frequency emissions from mobile phone base stations transmitters are set at two watts per square metre. Mobile phone masts operate many hundreds of times below this limit.
Reference to new Australian regulations have their origins in a resolution adopted by the New South Wales Local Government Association at its annual meeting in October 1997. Under the 1997 Australian Telecommunications Act, greater responsibility was placed with state and local governments concerning the planning and siting of telecommunications infrastructure. The former immunity from state and local government laws enjoyed by the Australian national telephone company was substantially removed.